Feline Friday: Bringing the outdoors in

Ever since winter started, the kitties sit by the back door and meow almost every day. I really don't know why they're doing this: It's not like I'm going to just open the door and let them outside to play! They only go outside in nice weather and even then, only on a leash.

To help them remember that it is COLD outside, I occasionally carry them out and set them down in the snow, which they do not like even one little bit! They pull their little feet up and cling to me while I carry them back inside. :-)

Yesterday I decided to bring in some snow for them to inspect. Lily thought it was pretty interesting to touch, and she soon discovered that she could eat it, too.

Tinsel, on the other hand, was less than impressed. She turned her nose up at the snow and went back to snuggle in her warm blanket.

My thoughts exactly.

Tabby Thursday

At least once a day when I'm trying to use the computer, Tinsel plants herself directly in front of the screen. She does this especially when she's hungry and wants my attention. It can be very difficult to work around her! Sometimes she even steps on the keyboard and typessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!

On this particular occasion, I was reading (or trying to read!) my blogging friend Sarah C.'s blog, 2Paws Designs. Tinsel rubbed all over the screen as if to say, "Hi, Chester and Cali!"

Wordless Wednesday

Hello Sunshine! Cosmo Cricket Cards

I'm teaching a card class this coming weekend at Memory Bound using the colorful and kitschy Cosmo Cricket line, Hello Sunshine. I used an 8x8 paper pad to make the cards, and I have to say it was the most fun I've had making cards in a long time. These are just a few of the 12 cards we'll be making in my class.

The papers in the Hello Sunshine collection remind me of old aprons or dishtowels you might find in your grandma's kitchen drawer. The retro patterns give the cards a unique look...either you like it or you don't!

I'll be putting kits together this week. It's going to be a fun class!

Layout share

Here's a layout I made as a store project for Memory Bound a few weeks ago. Since this was a New Year's themed layout, I decided to use some black and white photos from Daughter's party from the previous year. The Ki Memories chipboard letters played into the theme and color scheme perfectly.

On the left-hand page, I used a sheet of scalloped Bazzill cardstock, a 5x7 photo, and some die-cut flourishes. The right-hand page incorporates a block of hidden journaling, a New Year's quote, and a few of our favorite photos from that evening.

Feline Friday: Too much of a good thing?

Exactly how much TV should a cat be allowed to watch in one day?

One hour? Two hours? Five hours?

According to my calculations, Lily watched the bird and squirrel DVD for FIVE hours yesterday and at least that long today.

She stares at the screen, completely engrossed in blue jays and squirrels, until she can't keep her eyes open, then after a short nap she wakes up and continues viewing where she left off. (Keep in mind that the plot is fairly loose...)

Perhaps the worst part is that we are now humming the irritatingly cheerful theme song.

My life in tubs

Since December, I've been on a mission to get things under control around here. I must be making progress, because our daughter observed recently that the content of our lives has now been reduced to plastic tubs. This photo shows only a few of the many, many tubs that are now in our basement storage area.

As I've been organizing stuff, I've been thinking hard about what to keep. I've given some things away and taken quite a bit to Goodwill. But there are lots of items that I want to save or that I don't have the heart to get rid of right now, so into the tubs they go. The tubs have eliminated a lot of visual clutter from our daily living space. Plus, they're stackable and fairly watertight, and having the contents organized will make downsizing much easier in the future.

Tabby Tuesday

Please excuse us, dear blog readers. This is NOT ladylike behavior!

Another show choir weekend

(Click to enlarge...imagine the scent of aerosol hairspray permeating the air!)

Between January and the end of March, nearly every weekend will be occupied with some sort of high school music event, including several show choir competitions. We love to support the kids, so we go to as many events as we possibly can. This past weekend, our choirs traveled to a big competition in eastern Iowa and we made the trip to watch them. All of the competing show choirs were top-notch. We were very proud of our group, placing 5th runner up amid very tough competition from around the Midwest.

On the downside, winter driving conditions deteriorated during the day, creating black ice conditions for the drive back home. At one point, the interstate was closed due to a 21-car pile-up, so we had to pull over and find a hotel for the night. Somehow the busses made the trip home safely, but we were worried sick all night about kids traveling on the icy roads.

Next weekend our school will host a huge show choir invitational. Hopefully the weather will cooperate! But with winter in Iowa, you never know.

Project for a cold winter's eve

I spent a couple of snowbound evenings this week going through two years of old scrapbooking magazines. I cut out layout ideas and a few full articles for my idea binders, then recycled what was left of the magazines. It's quite amazing to look through old magazines and see how scrapbooking trends have changed. Even though these magazines weren't super old (2005-2006), the "look" was different then.

My idea binders aren't anything elaborate at all. I have one binder for full articles (divided by subject) and a second binder for layout ideas, categorized by number of photos used.

I'm much more likely to actually find an idea I'm looking for in a binder, rather than search through pages of a multiple magazines. Plus, magazines take up a lot of space -- space that I do not have! Whenever I feel like doing something scrapbooking-related (but not actually scrapbooking!) working on my idea binders is a nice, productive activity.

Feline Friday: A headline you may have missed...

Record-Breaking Cold Forces Midwest Cats to Resort to Desperate Measures

It's HOW cold?

Here in the Midwest, we're enjoying a lovely blast of arctic air this week. The temperature right now is -10 with a wind chill of -31. Hard to believe, but tomorrow is supposed to be even colder. Schools all around the state are closed due to the dangerous wind chill.

You know it's cold when poor Lily positions her body over the furnace vent and lets the hot air warm her tummy!