Ummm… did I already mention that I HATE Vista? We were without internet for 2 days because a McAfee update screwed up all the settings on my computer as it’s not really compatable with Vista.  Of course this was only discovered after an hour an a half on the phone with Microsoft, an hour and a half on the phone with Comcast and 50 minutes on the phone with McAfee.  Happily though I am back online!

Over the past week I’ve actually found a few stolen moments here and there to scrapbook.  I am loving the May kit for heritage photos!  I think the muted colors work perfect with the sepia tones in older photos.  I’ve been using photos of Scott’s grandparents.  Now I need to track down some photos of my own grandparents!

Here’s one I created using the April kit:

I really loved working with this paper from the Geisha add-on (I just painted chipboard behind the flower pink) and the Crate Paper diecuts from the Cherry Blossom add-on are just amazing!

And then I did this one of Scott’s grandfather, his twin and older brother with the May kit as well.  All the little diecuts are from Making Memories and I believe those are in the Teahouse add-on.

Off to pick the kids up from school, and to hit the grocery store and maybe to get Jack signed up for kindergarten.

Oh, and this was interesting this morning — OPB, the NPR station in Portland, has a locally produced call-in show.  This morning’s show was devoted to our little town of Philomath!  There is a foundation in town that has been giving scholarships to all of the town’s high school graduates.  From what I understand (we’re not from Philomath and we did not purchase in town because of the scholoarship), the scholarship was orignally meant to send kids to Oregon State, about 10 minutes away.  Now, to get a scholarship, you can not go to Oregon State (the foundation had a falling out with the University), you have to be a second generation town resident and you have to attend a small number of schools hand picked by the foundation.  Of course, as a private foundation they have a right to do whatever they want.  However, in my humble opinion, I seems that the Clemens who started the foundation wanted to help the children of the town, not set a political agenda.  In the end, what they seem to have achieved is division and putting  kids who had rightly or wrongly counted on that money in hardship.  If you want to find out more about this controversy that received nationwide attention, there was a documentary called “Clear Cut” that was shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

I’m so excited for him and sad at the sad time because for me, this is such an indicator that he’s growing up all too rapidly.

Jack lost the training wheels this weekend.

He only fell once (quite amazing as he’s my son!) and then took off like he’s been doing this forever!  I think this was the secret to quickly learning to ride a bike: buy an ultra cheap bike from Costco that is so poorly made that as the child rides, the training wheels eventually bend up so much that they are only touching on the sharpest turns!  Essentially he’s been going without training wheels for weeks now but it just became official on Saturday.

Saturday was a big sports day for Jack.  He had his second t-ball game (the very first one was hailed out!) and really enjoyed himself.  His genes are definitely more apparent when it comes to hitting a ball…

Yesterday we went to a community breakfast at the firestation as a fundraiser for our local version of the Ronald McDonald House.  The kids loved getting in the fire engines but were very disappointed the couldn’t climb up on the ladder truck…

And as a parent, aren’t these the moments that we wish there were just a few more of?

And then it was off to the park for more bike riding and swinging…

Now I’m off to the Corvallis school admin offices to see if we can somehow transfer Jack in.  Philomath, our town, decided on Friday that they weren’t going to have full day kindergarten.  I’m so happy that they made their decision after all the other schools have already had registration.  If he were to go to Philomath, he would get out of school at 10:50 every morning.  Sorry, I don’t really even see the point in going for that short a period!  Plus, Jack will be 6 in November so I think he really is ready for a full day.  I’m off to beg at the admin offices to see if there are any schools that still have full day openings and even though we are more than 2 weeks past the deadline, if they’ll somehow let Jack in.  Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Thank you so much for all the thoughtful and empathetic emails and comments.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you all reaching out.  I’m still trying to accept that she’s really gone.  On a throw rug near my desk there’s still one little paw print indentation  and I can’t bring myself to shake out that rug.   It’s as if it’s the last solid reminder that she was a living, breathing creature just a few days ago.

Over the years we’ve remained close with our breeder and she sent the most perfectly worded email yesterday.  Here’s a section of it:

You’ll never get over her, but she won’t be so, “in the moment” as she is right now and I know it doesn’t seem that way for now. I still can remember with tears each one of my dogs passing. Remembering the eyes, so full of love and admiration for you and with full confidence in you doing the right thing for them, no human deserves such devotion and yet the special dogs in our lives readily give it without reservation. That’s a heavy responsibility and one we end up accepting time and again because of the specialness of that kind of relationship.

My mom sent me a cute shot she had taken of Hannah and Jack last month when she was visiting…

And funnily enough, right after she took those pictures here in Oregon, she saw my sister’s family in North Carolina and took this photo of my nephew Tom with his dog Annabelle.  You’ve got to love a boy and his dog…

Onto happier thoughts….

So the cat is out of the bag now about the Ali kit!  I meet with her on Thursday to finalize everything with the kit.  She’s got some really fun things planned but you are going to have to wait a bit longer to find out.  I love a secret!

So what did you think of this month’s CK?  It was so fun to see so many familiar faces in the magazine.  Of course there was Ali’s column — great as always!  Mou had some beautiful layouts and Emilie Ahern, our guest designer for May, had a really cute layout across from one of Mou’s.   And… I loved seeing that Little Monkeys made it as one of the latest and greatest products!  Way to go Susan!!  My copy of Ashley Calder’s Scraptastic arrived in the mail today and I can’t wait to find a little free time to delve into it.  Along with my copies of Simple Scrapbooks and Scrapbooks Etc arriving as well, it’s been akin to scrapbook reading heaven around here for me!

Yesterday was my birthday.  I am thankful that Hannah didn’t die on my birthday but having just lost her two days earlier, I really wasn’t in a celebratory mode.  Also, I don’t think 39 makes you want to jump up and shout “hurray!” anyway….  We just stayed home and Scott picked up some Thai takeout and a deliciously decadent, dense chocolate cake.  The kids were very excited about singing happy birthday and most importantly, eating cake and licking candles!

Generally for Christmas, birthdays and other such gift giving occassions I receive incredibly romantic gifts from Scott like office chairs, bread knives, cutting boards, tool kits, and even a fanny pack once!  Occassionally he does manage to throw me a curve ball when he comes up with that just right gift.   This was one of those years…  He gave me this:

And this:

Now that I no longer need to listen to music on the boombox my parents gave me my senior year of college, I feel like I’ve finally entered the 21st century!  Thanks Scott!!!!

We lost Hannah girl this morning.  She had been doing so much better for the past two weeks that I was beginning to think that maybe we might actually have her for quite some time.  We were beginning to wonder how we were going to work it when Scott’s parents came out next month and we needed to meet them in Washington.  Sadly, it’s not an issue.

She woke up this morning and almost immediately began repeatedly vomiting pools of blood.  There was absolutely no question what needed to be done.  I am so sorry that she had to go through; I’m sure it must have been  terribly painful; it was painful enough to see it happening to her.  But, I am thankful at the same time that there was no debate as to whether or not it was actually time to let her go.

It’s going to be so strange not to hear her little patter through the house, to have a bark warn me that there’s someone at the door, no constant companion, no driving or walking buddy and no one to clean the crumbs off of the floor.  I do feel  fortunate though that we get those two extra unexpected weeks to love her and feed her SIX pounds of treats!  I really needed that extra time to appreciate her and to spend ever moment I could with her.   And in some small way, to get use to the idea of her no longer being here.

Today is some of the oddest weather we’ve seen since moving to Oregon seven and a half years ago.  We woke up to a blanket of snow this morning and since then we’ve had spots of sunshine, rain, sleet and marble sized hail.  It makes me feel as if Mother Earth is mourning with us.  Reassuring in a way.

Goodbye Hannah….

Can I tell you how much I hate Vista?  I had just written this long, extremely eloquent blog entry when my Internet Explorer stopped working, a not unusual experience with Vista.  And then I also lost a link that I had saved to add to this and then spent the next 15 minutes searching the web to find it again!

Ok, done with my little tirade and back to business!  Sorry I’m a day late with this — the tax man cometh and there was some additional unwelcomed craziness over the last couple of days!

Without further ado, here is the May Kit “A Japanese Tea Party!”

A Japanese Tea Party

Patterned Paper

Prima Tea & Silk Daigoji

Prima Tea & Silk Katsura

Prima Tea & Silk Ryoanji

Crate Paper Blue Hill Rain

Crate Paper Blue Hill Flower

My Mind’s Eye Mellow Sweet6

Making Memories Ledger — Esquire

GCD Studios Rose Colored Glasses Light Wallpaper

Basic Grey Infuse Lace

Narratives Pink Floral

American Crafts A La Carte Rye

7 Gypsies Classic — Brompton

Cardstock

Bazzill Light Fawn

Bazzill Aqua

Bazzill Fire Hearts

Bazzill Light Rosey

Embellishments

My Mind’s Eye Wild Asparagus Birthday Girl Frame

My Mind’s Eye Mellow Happy Flower Diecut

My Mind’s Eye Wild Asparagus Baby Girl Transparency

Crate Paper Blue Hill Chipboard Buttons

Prima Whispered Words Felt Alphabet — Brown

Prima Journaling Stamp

7 Gypsies Notebook Journal Stickers

7 Gypsies Buckle — Island

Heidi Swapp Damask Mini- Mask

Maya Road Wings Chipboard Keychain

Ribbons

May Arts Leaves Ribbon — Olive

May Arts Velvet Ricrac — Passionfruit

May Arts Satin Scalloped Edge — Brown

The photos does not show the Prima Alpha or the Prima Stamps.  I’ll revise this later with links and photos.  But, I just lost all of my blogging time and have to run to the post office and to my brow waxing appointment that I have now cancelled so many times that I’m beginning to look like a cave woman!

But, here’s the pesky link that I lost — the coolest environmental innovation I’ve seen in a long time!