Jack & Jill.

my layouts for this month's Jack & Jill gallery over at Studio Calico...

for this one, i used only the 'time' portion of the 'story time' set that came in the Main kit...and then painted it in with a fine brush. after using the rub-ons around the edge, i used my adhesive eraser to rub a bit of them off to make it look a bit more distressed. yes, it's official...i am a lunatic and hand cut all of those little trees out of the SC paper.

i love using numbers on pages...they never seem to get used up, do they? and the teal paper here is actually the backing to the new alpha stamp set...and i LOVE it.

always fun to compare old photos with new...look at Brett, lol.

everything here is from the Main Kit...so if you were on the fence, they are still available as well as a few of the add-ons!!

stayed up WAY too late last night over at Jenn's...intended to crop, but watched Twilight instead, lol...man, i forgot how much i am in love with that vampire.

have a great week!!

tonight. midnight EST.

is when you can purchase this puppy and all of the add-ons...

meet up in the Live Chat room to kill some time and have fun before the buying begins!!

see you there!!

a case of the blahs.

has hit me.
hard.
blech.
(lol)

not sure specifically why they have hit here...i mean, i know a few reasons...but i just feel yucky.

and i don't like to feel like that...it just isn't me, lol.

some of it has to do with this particular girlie's feelings... she and Mike dropped off Miss Lola last night at the vet for her overnight stay before her declawing surgery. :( we were hesitant to do it, but after seeing her have her way with the corner of the couch the last few days, we opted for it anyway. she won't be home until tomorrow afternoon, and our poor girl is brokenhearted about her being gone.

she is also convinced that Miss Lola will be ticked at us for subjecting her to this, and has thus expressed concern that she will no longer love us.

to which we explained that as long as we feed her and love on her, she will keep a place in her heart for us, lol.


so to ease her mind from it a bit, we constructed her volcano for science class last night. we just have to paint it when she gets home from school today...she gets to erupt it tomorrow at school. i'm just hoping she gets the mix right and doesn't cause her mountain to spew red gooey diswashing soap all over the walls of the classroom.

note to self: dress her in old clothes tomorrow in case of spillage.

so i took a 'mental health day' off from work today.
usually that helps to rid myself of the blahs.
i think i'll cross my fingers on that one.
lol.

adjustments.

us getting used to having her around.
her getting used to having a home.
Allie learning that it takes time for a kitty to adjust to being in new surroundings...
which doesn't neceassarily mean that she wants to be with us 24/7, lol.
but it's actually very cool to see how lovey Allie is with her.
and how gentle she is with her.
and since she hasn't ever had to 'share' the house with anyone, i think she's enjoying every second of not being the only non-adult around...if that makes sense?
but it's still odd to wake up at 5am and see a pair of eyes waiting for you at the bathroom door, lol.


oh...and here's one more sneak for April's Studio Calico kit...available this Friday night at midnight EST!!


:)

introducing...Lola.

we must be insane.

so the Animal Protective League around here is pretty darn smart. they have Girl Scout troops volunteer to help out for an afternoon, so that they get credit towards their 'pet badge'...and of course the girls walk away wanting an animal.

Allie was the only girl in the troop without a pet.

Mike is a sucker for his little girl.

ergo, we adopted a kitty this afternoon.

we named her Lola...and she is a cutie patootie. we shopped for Lola last night in anticipation of her arrival:

• travel tote in fab pink leopard print: $7 (75% off...quite the steal)
• litter box: $6
• litter: $5
• food: $4
• scoop for food: $1
• grooming brush: $2 (50% off)
• treats: $2
• collar: $4
• food bowl: $3
• water bowl: $3
• scoop for litter box: $1
• adoption fee: $65 (she is already spayed and has had her first shots)

she is about 8 months old, so we'll see how it goes. we haven't had a cat since Custard took off a few years ago, and before that we had Odie...who had to find a new home after she didn't quite take to Allie as a baby. wish us luck...ay yi yi.

on another note...a few sneaks of Studio Calico's April kit.

still playing with this one...have a great week!

(also wanted to say thanks to everyone for their words of encouragement...it means an awful lot to hear every now and then that you uaren't the only mama who has bouts of doubt.)

do you ever?

feel like you just won't get the mom thing down?

like no matter how many times you repeat something...how many times you go over and over something...despite every effort you can possibly make, that the message will never get through?

that it will never stick?

that you may be missing the 'awesome Mom' gene?

you know, the one that provides an endless amount of patience.

and calm.

and reason.

because i think it may have skipped over me, that gene.

i just don't seem to possess any of those qualities lately.

but i know what i do possess.

an absolute love for her.

one that cannot be broken, no matter how hard the day may be.

or how frustrated either of us get.

i think a big part of it is my own fault.

and i have the hardest time saying no.

until i get really upset about something said or done...and then 'no' comes fairly easy.

and we aren't technically at the 'hard' part yet.

we're just at the edge of it all.

and i just don't know that i have it in me to be the awesome mom that i assumed i would be.

so i keep reminding myself that all i can do is try.

try to be the best example i can for her.

she deserves that.

and so much more.

whew.

i can do this.

looking forward...

a quick list of things i'm looking forward to.

• green grass and leaves on the trees.
• capris, no jacket and shoes with no socks.
• sunshine...it does happen in Cleveland, i swear. i've witnessed it.
• organizing our office. how does it get out of control so quickly?
• both of these lines from Collage Press...my favorite company. i love it all. i want it all. i must find somewhere that has it...ALL.
  
  
• next Saturday...going to Scrappy Chic to crop all day long with Jenn. can't wait to see what they've stocked the store with and just let loose and have a ball.
• a hair cut tomorrow evening.
• baked pork chops for dindin.
• shopping for a few new things on Tuesday.
• getting all of these blasted Girl Scout cookies delivered.
• a time when we aren't in the midst of a fund raiser.
• seeing her score a goal at a soccer game. she was this close yesterday...maybe if she plays offense more often. i mean for the love of pete, i got choked up just watching her charge down the field on a breakaway...maybe i can't handle an actual goal, lol.
• deciding what to do with our tax refund. a few projects around the house, a mini vacation and a chunk into savings are in the rough draft.
• a box of goodness from Studio Calico tomorrow when i get home. i hope.
• seeing her figure out that when it comes to accessories, less can be more, lol.

and a bunch of other things.
hope you have a great week.
:)

sick day.

the official title of Thursday March 5, 2009.

girlfriend here tried to stick it out as long as she could yesterday, but ended up coming home from school early after her little body couldn't take it anymore. thank goodness for Grandma, who picked her up and loved on her until we got home. (and also thank goodness for Grandma...who helped her clean herself and her fave stuffed animal and jammies up after puking 4 times...yuck.)

i'm thinking she either picked something up at the Girl Scout thingy or at school earlier in the week, but it came out of nowhere. so far, none of us have caught it...which is tricky because when they feel so terrible, all they want is to be clingy. and i never question it...heck, at her age, i'll love on her as long as she lets me.

so we kept her home today and have no intentions of getting dressed or doing anything important. she is perfectly content to be plopped in bed with Mike's laptop, buzzing about Club Penguin for as long as we'll allow.

the past 24 hours have served as a reminder of just how fragile life can be.


but hopefully we're on the mend here at Harper Central now.
all of us.
and the sun is already out, the blinds are flung open and the temp is supposed to touch the 50 degree mark on the thermometer outside.

i think i'll celebrate.
:)

crabby. salty. surly. snarky & just plain exhausted.

those words in the title?

they describe Allie right about now, lol.

she just arrived home from her overnight excursion to the mall with the Girl Scouts.

8pm-8am lockdown.
3,200 girls her age running amok with little rest time.
(and by little, i mean NO rest time...she has been up since 8am yesterday)

she had a blast though, and came in the door with her goodies she acquired while there...

• Build-a-Bear pink monkey with limited edition David Archuleta t-shirt and silver satin skirt
• souvenir tee for herself from Girl Scouts
• gigantic High School Musical 3 poster
• semi-gigantic Jonas Bros. 3D movie poster
• a bunch of other stuff laying in her overnight bag
• 1 attitude the size of Montana.

today is NOT going to be pretty, lol.

i, on the other hand...am still reeling from Reveal Night at SC and the DT gallery. holy moleskin, i think it's clear why many of us have claimed this as our new fave SC kit of all time!! here are my offerings for the month...

i think this may be my fave. green+grey+teal+yellow=heaven. add to that a touch of reminiscing of our time at Newport Beach in Cali and it just makes me smile. used the packaging from the Jenni Bowlin chipboard buttons to house this old photo of us in 1975. it scanned weird though...hmm.

when i saw that Sass paper with all of the frames, i whipped out my scissors and got down to business. i LOVE these dang frames.

oval punch? check. rip strips taped back to back and then twisted? check. cutie patootie me with G-Ma pic? check.

watered down some of my fave of all time blue paint (Sky by Making Memories...which i cannot find around here and am almost completely out of...yikes) and painted away.

Allie & Emily...her American Girl dollie with matching outfit.

you can't tell on this one, but that Sass border hangs off the top of the page...this one was fun to make for some reason, lol.

another fave combo...green+yellow+red. i just trimmed a piece of cardstock down to 11x11, held it in the middle of the yellow base cardstock and spritzed around the edges with my green Maya Mist. i am officially digging the Maya Mists...but still a bit intimidated by them, lol.

and then i made myself stop.

i plan on using the pieces of this kit to bits...for real.

did i mention i am in love with it??

now i'm off to clean up around the house...enjoy your Sunday!!

:)