Kara Layouts

Here's a few of the pages I finally got done of the days that Kara stayed with us earlier this month. I'll make note of the credits later. Gotta run right now!

Flower Beds

Yesterday, instead of going to thrift stores (at least in the morning) Tim and I worked on the flower beds around the front of the house. The flowers I planted last year mostly died because the ground is sloped from the house and the dirt was basically washed away from the plants throughout the year. It is hard to tell, but the plant in the middle under the window is sticking about 3 inches above the ground! I covered it up in the hopes that maybe the dirt will revive it, lol! If not, I'll just buy more plants, which I intend to do anyway.

Anyway, here is a before picture. Keep scrolling down to see more.

My faithful little car really isn't good enough for DH to drive unless it involves a task that might get his car dirty! LOL! So, hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Lowe's we go for the first load of landscaping timbers. We have such a small area that needed to be done, but I still figured it would cost us a couple hundred $$ to do this small project! I was PLEASANTLY surprised! The 8' landscape timbers were only $1.97 each! We bought 12" galvanized nails to pin them to the ground! We spent more on those than we did on the lumber, lol! We only bought enough to do the area by the porch. Tim didn't want to do the other part til next year. I don't know what his thinking was on this plan, but since he was willing to help me, that was fine with me! So, we bought 7 timbers and 20 nails. The plan was to build the bed and then go to lunch and get dirt to fill the beds later.
Tim and I have always worked very well together! And, he didn't hurt me but maybe once the whole day! :)
We ended up with a whole timber and a piece left over. And we had finished building the beds by 12:30 (we didn't leave the house to buy the timber until 9:45, so we made good time). Anyway, Tim decided we needed to just go ahead and finish the side of the house, too, lol! We only needed 2 more boards to finish the project. So, we made a few notes of materials we needed, washed our hands and left for lunch at Pizza Hut. We enjoyed the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet then went to Lowe's for the rest of the materials. We bought 2 more timbers and 14 more nails. We also bought 10 bags of top soil at $1.27 each.
Tim left the filling in to me with the top soil. I started pulling weeds, but then gave up on that idea and just poured the dirt on top of it, lol! I'll probably regret that later on!
And, voila! All done! Looks pretty nice, huh?! Still needs some leveling out and more plants. I bought a "small garden" magazine that I hope to get some ideas from in what to plant.
And, here is a view of the front and side. Looks much better!
Where are my gloves, you say? I HATE wearing gloves! I have to say that I did think I would probably end up having to cut my fingernails off afterwards! But dish soap and a scrubbie then B&BW soap did the trick! And to my surprise, I didn't even have a broken nail! We did end up going to a few thrift stores later in the afternoon and then I was treated to dinner out, too! It was a very productive day! That's not all.......
OK, now here is a layout I did of a picture I took of the daffodils at church. I love daffodils and I take pictures of them every year. This year I positioned the camera under them so I could capture that beautiful sky! Turned out pretty neat! Then I used a couple of the pictures to make a couple of papers for my new kit, Dream Of Spring. This is a page I did using that new kit. Click on the layout to go to the store where I am selling the kit for 50% off when you use the coupon code "DreamOfSpring" (no quotes) during the checkout process. THANKS!

New Kit and a Coupon!!!

SPRING has SPRUNG!!!! At least the calendar tells us it has! I started this kit before Spring was officially here, hence the name! This is a HUGE kit, full of all kinds of Springy thingies! There are 30 papers which are all 12x12 @ 300 ppi in JPG format. There are 80 elements which are all @ 300 ppi in PNG format. And there is also an alpha/numeric set @ 300 ppi in PNG format. Some shadows are included on a few of the elements.

AND, you can get the kit for 50% off for a limited time (March 25th - March 31st), so hurry to the store by clicking on the preview! Be sure to type the following coupon code in during the check out process: DreamOfSpring

The list of items included in this kit follows:

30 papers
1 paper with an open frame area
1 alpha/numeric set
1 bird
4 borders
1 bow
1 brad
Butterflies in 7 colors
Buttons in 7 colors
1 cloud
1 confetti element
1 crocus
1 daffodil
1 daisy
1 date wheel
11 flower elements
5 frames
3 frames with journal areas
4 journal elements
2 leaf elements
2 mats
4 scalloped mats
2 pinwheels
1 rainbow
1 raindrops element
2 ribbon elements
2 staples
1 string
1 sun
1 tree
1 tulip
1 umbrella
1 watering can element
7 word arts

Here is a better preview of the papers that are included in the kit.

Hope in God

In my devotions this morning, I read Psalm 43. "Hope in God" is the theme given to this Psalm (not sure who gives these, whether from the originals or from the translators). With all that is happening in our country today, I felt that this Psalm hit the nail on the head, so to speak. Please read the verses below and consider this.....no matter what our leaders may do, God's people need to remain true to Him and His Word and place all our HOPE IN GOD! He will be our only salvation from the destruction that may come from poor leadership, yay, ungodly leadership. Let's pray very hard for our nation and it's leaders. May God's purpose be to spare them from eternal destruction and draw them to Him. Stand true to God and His Word and HOPE IN GOD so that He will NOT cast us off!

Psalm 43 (KJV) - the highlighted portions are my own and I have added a pronoun in parenthesis to represent us Christians in this nation.
1. Judge me (us), O God, and plead my (our) cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me (us) from the deceitful and unjust man.
2. For thou art the God of my (our) strength: why dost thou cast me (us) off? why go I (we) mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3. O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me (us); let them bring me (us) unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
4. Then will I (we) go unto the altar of God, unto God my (our) exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I (we) praise thee, O God my (our) God.
5. Why art thou cast down, O my (our) soul? and why art thou disquieted within me (us)? hope in God: for I (we) shall yet praise him, who is the health of my (our) countenance, and my (our) God.

My prayer:
O, LORD God! Forgive me for being complacent and apathetic to what has been going on in this great nation for a long time! A nation that was founded on godly principles and lead by godly men. O, GOD! We need to get back to those basics. I pray today for ALL of the leaders of our great nation, that it might be Your purpose to turn them to You; that it might be Your purpose to turn us Christians back to You and make our nation a STRONG, Christian nation once again! Forgive our collective sins, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the only Way, Truth and Light and for His sake, His honor and His glory! AMEN!

Breakfast for dinner

Sunday evening dinner is usually a fend-for-yourself meal. And with Tim being on a diet, it is like that on date night (Thursday), too. If he eats a big lunch, then he eats very light at night. But, generally throughout the week, his light meal is at lunch and by 4 he is ready for dinner!

Anyway, this being a fend-for-yourself night, I decided I was in the mood for cereal. I don't like just any old cereal. I like it to have fruit and nuts in it! So, this cranberry and nut cereal from Aldi is my favorite! And, I ADD extra dried cranberries! I got "hooked" on dried cranberries a couple of years ago when I tried a new cranberry and white chocolate chip cookie recipe! YUMMMMM! Were they ever good! Soon after that, I discovered this cereal at Aldi! Ever since then, usually if I eat cereal, this is what I eat!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Gotcha' didn't I?! :) Well, it WILL be a happy new year when little Sawyer gets to wear the bargain onesie I found today! Would you believe........$0.50?! Oh, yeah! Size 6-9 months, in case you are wondering, Jessica! :) GOTTA LOVE WALMART!!!!

FLOWER POWER!!

I went grocery shopping today and Aldi had these "pot mums" for $3.99 each. The bright yellow flowers just called to me....."Buy me! Buy me!" So, as you can see, I did! The yellow represents sunshine and happiness to me! When the flowers start blooming in spring, I am always reminded of this verse in Song of Solomon 2:12, "The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." The earth seems to be happy after the winter. I know I am happier when the days are as beautiful as they are today! I'm glad it is a pretty day because we are going to have the kids from our SS classes from 6-9 for a game night. We are eating pizza bread, chips, cookies and ice cream. Tim is going to give a devotion on Abraham offering Isaac, but the ram was his substitute, and from there show them how that Jesus was our substitute. That (the devotion) will take place while the pizza bread is cooking. Then we will go outside to play games like volley ball, kick ball, dodge frisbee, pole ball (I guess that is what you call it, where you toss 2 golf balls attached together with a string and try to wrap them around 1 of 3 horizontal bars for points). Right now I'm headed over to the fellowship hall to cut the bread and begin the preparations for the meal and the kids' arrival!

Clothes for baby Sawyer

Today, on Tim's day off, we went back to the thrift stores in High Point. We hit the jackpot today and am able to mark lots of items off of our "To Buy" list, lol! I don't think that list ever really diminishes, however, lol! I don't have a list, per se. I just buy it if it looks like something I could use, even tho I didn't realize I needed it! :)

Part of what I found today was some summertime clothes for Sawyer, our grandson that is due June 22nd. Jessica told me they have plenty of winter clothes but no summer clothes for him. Well, I took care of some of that need today! And the next time the girls come to see me, we are gonna have to try and get over to this little church-operated thrift store. Everything looks so nice and clean and it is very organized! These 2 pictures are what I found there today. TEN one-piece outfits for Sawyer, (plus a brand new pack of lap pads from Goodwill) and a grocery-sized bag stuffed as full as I could get it of yarn, Barbie doll material and other misc items that cost me $1.00! WOOHOO! Can't beat that! And each outfit for Sawyer cost $1.99, with the exception of one that cost $2.99 and I got 25% off of the total purchase, so I paid less then $20 for everything you see! TADA!! A great bargain! And for Jessica's information, these outfits are all 3 and 6 months sizes.

Some Layouts to share

I was able to get quite a few layouts done last night on the trip home from Maryland. My goal was to create some quick pages to sell using my latest kit, Friendship Company. And in that process I got some cute pages of Kara's visit done. Here is the link to the Friendship Company Quick Pages in the store. They are 12"x12" pages which can easily be changed to 8"x8" pages, which is the size I always use for when I get books printed. Usually, if the books are free, they are the 8x8 size. I've never seen a free 12x12 book offer!

The quick page does not have the X through the word "friendship." I just did that for the purpose of this layout.


YEAH!!!!!! Are your daffodils blooming yet? Sure hope so!

Poor Jessica.......

Last night after church I packed up all of Kara's things so we would be ready to leave this morning. While I was working, Tim spent some cuddle time reading with Kara. She calls him pappy, which is so cute!
Kara slept better last night. She did want me to turn the music back on once and I told her that was the last time! I didn't hear another peep!

She was so excited when Pappy told her she could take the lizard home with her. She has carried him around for 2 days.
She was very excited to be going home to see mommy and daddy, too!
She started making silly faces. Here are just a few. This first one is her "frowny" face or the face she makes if she thinks your question or comment was silly! Her mouth isn't just right because she was having a hard time trying not to laugh.
She looks rather scary in this one!
Another one where she is trying not to laugh.

After she got tired of making faces, she ate and played and ate some more and played some more and ate some more! :) I think she was catching up!
Then she covered her face with her night-night and just about went to sleep.....
.....til I started bothering her! I figured her mommy would probably like it if she slept on their half of the trip home! She had already been asking every half hour (or less) if we were half way there yet!
She folded back some of the night-night and I caught this picture! Wouldn't she make a perfect little Mary for a Christmas play with her dark skin and dark eyes? Precious face! She is getting ready to eat some peanut butter cracker sandwiches that I fixed for her for the trip.
She separates them and eats the plain cracker first, then either picks the peanut butter off with her fingers and eats it or eats the cracker with it.
Another silly picture. She has yogurt raisins in her lap.
I had wanted to paint our fingernails to match before we left the house this morning (what was I thinking?) but just didn't have time. There are little butterflies in the middle of each fingernail. I woke up at 5 with a headache and finally got up at 5:45 to get a shower before Kara woke up. Plus I took some excedrine and the combination of shower and meds took care of the headache.

Jessica called us when she was about an hour and a half out to report she was having a hard time driving because she had dry heaves and just was not feeling well. We told her to take her time. When we arrived at Panera Bread, where we were scheduled to meet, there were no parking spaces, so I called her to let her know we were going to eat at McDonalds. She did not answer the phone and I knew that was not a good sign. When I didn't hear back from her I called her again to make sure she got the message. She finally arrived looking pretty "green around the gills" as my dad would say. Tim and I had talked before she got there and I said I wish there was something we could do to help her but didn't know what that would be. Tim said you could drive her car back while she laid down and I could follow you and then after dropping her off at home we would travel back. Jessica had said she was thinking of getting a hotel room but she would not be able to rest with Kara. So when we told her the plan and she accepted, we stopped to get some dramamine so she could sleep on the trip. Kara slept, too. I guess about 2-2 1/2 hours into the trip Jessica woke feeling much better except for a headache. I called Tim to tell him I needed to take a potty break and he said he needed gas, so we stopped at a gas station and Jessica filled her SUV while we were stopped. She talked with Tim and said she thought she would be able to make the rest of the trip with no problem. So we headed back home and Jessica finished the trip. She had about an hour left.

Sure hope you are feeling MUCH better tonight, Jessica! Give XOXO's to our Kara Bear! I was looking forward to seeing Michael, but that will have to wait! Love you all! And, thanks again for sharing your precious little girl with us!

Our last day with Kara

We had a rough night last night. I put Kara in bed at 9:30 (8:30 body time, lol) and took my shower and cleaned up some of my e-mail. At 10:30, Kara started crying. When I went in to check on her she said, I can't go to sleep by myself! I asked her if she wanted me to go to bed now and you already know the answer! :) So I told her I was done on the computer and I would be back just as soon as I shut the computer down. So, at 10:30 (9:30 body time) I am in bed!!!!! To sleep.........NO! I laid there for at least an hour. I know it was more than an hour because Kara's music went off just a little bit after I laid down, which she wanted turned back on again. I was still awake when it went off the 2nd time (the cd lasts about an hour). But she had finally gone to sleep. Then sometime during the night she woke up and realized the music wasn't playing and wanted it turned on again! Anyway, it was a looooooooong night!

She was very chipper today! She had a banana and 2 little drink boxes of apple juice for breakfast (our bedroom makes your throat very dry, which is exactly what she said). We got ready for church and I usually go over to the church at around 9:45 but when we were ready at 9:30 she was ready to go see papaw. He couldn't believe we were there so early! :) Me either!

Kara and I had talked about Sunday School classes and what kids papaw taught and what kids mamaw taught and who the teacher was of her age. She had already decided that she was going to stay with me, which was fine. But once little Sarah got there and they buddied up together right off the bat, Kara was willing to stay with Sarah in SS class. Sarah was the one who didn't want to go to SS class this morning! Sarah just turned 3 in February. Miss Ilene said Kara did just fine!

For preaching we sat in the back and one of the girls from my SS class sat with us and Kara and Savannah made friends very quickly. At one point, Kara asked if Savannah could come home with us. When I told her not today, she said then can I go to her house? I was shocked! It probably never would have happened, but just that she asked blew me away! Can this be the Kara that I know?!! :)

Kara wanted so badly to feed the geese at the park yesterday that I decided we should try to do it before her nap. I found 4 hamburger buns in the freezer and thawed them. She was ecstatic when I told her we could go before her nap to feed the geese! She was giddy, actually! And you can tell from the first picture below that she just couldn't wait!

She's got her eye on the geese and calling to them.
After the little girl getting nipped yesterday, we told her to stay on the bench. But the geese were not quite as "wild" as they seemed to be yesterday. She eventually got off of the bench.
There were a couple of geese that she mainly fed as they were the ones who hung the closest to her.
I fed this pretty white duck.
I kept throwing bread up into the air to watch the seagulls try to grab some of the bread. It fell into the water mostly where they dove in after.

Talking to the goose.
I told Kara to walk out onto the dock and see if the seagulls would let her talk to them, knowing they would fly away, which is what I wanted to try and capture on camera.
After we ran out of bread and the geese started walking away, Kara begged to go down the curly slide and I said only ONE time. Tim laughed! He and I both figured that once we were over there she would beg for more turns. To our surprise, she did not. But she walked away with a sad face, lol!

And, now she is taking her nap. She may sleep a long time and she may not, but I want to look up some addresses of Goodwill stores when done here, because Tim and I want to try to find some Goodwill stores while we are on the way back from Virginia tomorrow, where we will meet Jessica to make the exchange.....what exchange, you ask? Jessica gets Kara back and we get back our grandma and grandpa routine! We have LOVED having Kara and look forward to the time when all of the grandkids will be with us this summer, but now, as then, we will be glad for our 2-people quiet routine back! Thanks, Jessica and Michael, for sharing our precious Kara Bear!