cards! and plans for my next visit to TX

I got to make some cards during the retreat,

and guess what, I actually used them!    The top left was a card I made my sis, the top right part of a 'swap', bottom left b-day card for ddil...and bottom right anniversary card for dd and dsil.  The prima doll card was sent to a gal who needs a li'l encouragement.  

Can I just say, I love these Prima dolls...I have quite a few, and yesterday I bought 3 more.  They are the only reason I started buying 6x6 pads...so the patterns would be good for their clothes.  

I started a new book "Change Your Brain, Change Your Body" by Dr. Daniel Amen...don't see anything new about living a healthy lifestyle.  But gotta say it adds new motivation for just doing it.  Well, what is 'new' is his recommendations for supplements that target where your wrong thinking just may be.  I am one who does question the Dr's science...seems a little subjective...and the book does have a li'l bit of a selling focus.  BUT it is motivating me to keep/make/maintain the lifestyle changes that I KNOW work.  And to stop the slide back to the bad habits/foods/emotions that bring me down.

I took the day off from work.  Toward the end of the month, just not much for me to do...it picks up at the first of the month.  BUT I am going to Tx to 'mom' sit, so that will throw the 'close' off.  (I do accounting) 

ANYways, inspired by this book, I've decided to take the days in Texas to concentrate on vegetarian meals.  Looks like that would be good for mom and her Altzheimer's also.   When I went in March, I made her smoothies every morning.  She hated them.  She told me, 'what is this ookey stuff!"...so, we will see how she responds to vegetarian meals.     When I first started my lifestyle change in 2009, I went without meat for 2 weeks, and I do remember I felt great!  If it were up to me and dd, we probably would be primarily vegetarian or pescatarian...but, we married carnivores who are against it.

so, what shall I do with my day off?  Can play in my scraproom...do need to plan for Sunday School...orrrr, make a Hobby Lobby and Burlington run.  DH does want me to buy some new clothes...hmmmmmmmm

Will take pics of a some of the Disney layouts I did at the retreat.   Disney is such a fun book to do!

Ooooh, cuz this house is in 'kitten' mode, here is a pic I took last night.  sooo much fun, sooo hard to get a pic...soooo adorable!

a new priority...

For the past month, yes it was 4 weeks to this day, my life has been pretty much centered around...

Kittens!

While horseback riding, DH found these kittens which had been dumped right off our road.

We live off a one way road, so the side is often used so oncoming cars can pass thru...so, we consider it real lucky that these kittens were not smushed.  Also, we have packs of dogs, hawks, coyotes...they would not have made it.  Dh admits, he debated letting me know...but he did and I went back with a box and picked them up.  He knew, that I would LOVE nuturing them...but also knows that letting go will be real hard for me.   There were 6, but my neighbor took 2...so that leaves me 4.  They were @ 2 to 3 weeks old when dh found them..so it did start out with bottle feedings.   And the first weekend was hard!  This is my first time bottle feeding kittens!   BUT we got through it, and we had flea baths that took over 4 hours on the 2nd day...thank God for dd...crazy. 

Up till last week I've had a kitten sitter while at work.  She has been invaluable...as she has done this before and can give me tips on the process.  They are now eating dry food, drinking some water...use their boxes and I am down to 2 feedings (no bottles) per day.  ALMOST at a 12 hour schedule, so they can stay home while I go to work...siiiiiiiiigh. 

4 weeks later and they are the most adorable kitties ever.  No, I'm not biased.   They are so playful, have their own fun personalities...and yes, I love them all.  I do have them signed up with a rescue, and in a couple more weeks they will be fixed and ready for adoption.   

I posted 4 pics cuz I wanted ya'll to see how HARD it is to get a group shot of these babies...omg...all those cartoons about people trying to herd kittens...yup.  

They have like 3 to 4 names each, yup, We started out with 6 kittens...so we gave them Stark kids names from Game of Thrones.   Then down to 4...then found out we had a couple of genders wrong...so, we chose a couple more Game of Thrones names.  BUT d-son in law, thinks the GOT names are stupid, so he gave them "Oklahoma" style cat names, names I call their 'Country Bumpkin' names...then dd decided we should do Hunger Game names...and I've given them names that I think fit their personalities...oh, and dgd has also chimed in...siiiigh....

This is our only girl...her original GOT name was Bran..but oops, she's a girl, so we changed it to Ygritte (after the wildling girl, cuz let's face it, this little girl is not one for tea and crumpets).  She is a very active little girl, but always the first to approach me when I enter the room for loves.  Her Country Bumpkin (CB) name is Scampy, Her Hunger Games (HG) name is Katniss...My name for her is Callie and dgd has chosen Lacey.

(of course I call her Callie)

This is our sealpoint boy, he is a little love...His original GOT name was Sansa, cuz he was so gentle during the bottle feedings.  but oops, he's a boy, so it got changed to Rheagar (the silver Targaryan with violet eyes)...CB name is Waffles, HG is Peeta, but I am calling him Oliver...and dgd calls him Tom-Tom

This is our big boy...He was the least affectionate, but I have made a point of giving him loves and now he does approach me and gives me 'motor' purrs.  He is a very active boy (even the kitten sitter called him 'the wild one')...GOT name is King Robb...when we first got them, he would pace the container we had them in...and 'make speeches'...very vocal.   CB name is Boo-Kitty, HG is Finnick...My name is Arnold (yes after Schwarzennegar...cuz when one of his brothers was misbehaving ...being possessive over a toy...Arnold leapt in and took care of business)  

This is my little cuddle bug, from the beginning when bottle feeding he would make eye contact and melt in my arms.  His GOT name is Rickon, CB is Bandana, HG is Haymitch...but mine is Arthur.  Because, I have a Winston and a Percy and IF I got to keep him, I think Arthur would fit right in.

BUT as of now, there is NO sign that DH is going to let me keep any of them.  To be honest, I love them all, and if he said okay to me keeping one, I would keep the one that does not get adopted.  

So, this has been my days for the past month.  I LOVE every moment of it, but it is driving dh a li'l crazy, he cannot wait till it is done and they have homes.  

I also got to go to a Crop Retreat on Mother's Day weekend. You should have seen the mad scramble to get kitten care...but with the help of a scrapbooking friend and her church, it happened.  But the retreat is for another post, another day.