As Happy as I Choose to Be

I'm a featured scrapbooker on BPS - How cool is that?!?!?!?!

Wow!  Got the email late Friday that the Featured Students part of their website would be up and running by end of weekend...and guess who the first featured student is?  ME!!!!!  Can't believe it!  (Also - can't believe the answers I provided to the profile questionnaire they asked me to complete.)  I've never submitted any pages to the scrapbook magazines to publish though that would be a thrill, so this is so amazing that they picked me out of all the students who've taken their online classes as one of their featured students.....Wheee!!!!! (as one of the layouts I submitted says or should I say "Wowie! Wow! Wow!" as Junie B. Jones says...a phrase any gradeschool parent probably knows).  I also had to pick "3 layouts I love".  How tough is that?  I sweated that...do I pick out ones that have meaningful journaling or even just quirky, funny Bailee stories or do I just pick some beautiful/fun layouts that I simply like?  I went with the latter.  Kind of funny really, since most of my layouts tell a story, but who cares...basically I picked layouts I love...guess those instructions weren't so tough afterall.  Here's link to featured students page.

National Geographic and 100 Wishes Quilt

While at VBS last week, one of our projects involved tearing pictures from magazines and gluing them onto something (can't even remember what...we did a LOT of gluing).  Anyway - there were some old National Geographic magazines...1980!  And I found one with a feature on western China which even included Lanzhou.  Lanzhou, which was on the Silk Road, is the capital of the Gansu province and where I got Bailee and stayed for about a week completing the Chinese government's paperwork. 

Lanzhou was also, at that time and by their own admission, the most polluted city in the world.  Just looking out our hotel window we easily saw 7 smoke stacks just puffing away.  The weather was bitterly cold (zero degrees) but we didn't go out but once a day for other reasons...the pollution.  You'd blow your nose...black snot.  Seriously!  And that was with only one outing a day. 

Anyway the magazine article got me and Renee to talking about our trip to get our daughters, because that is how we met...while adopting at the same time.  We sat on that church pew and talked about our daughters, their current uestions about their adoption, what we tell them.  Basically, Bailee knows she came from someone else's tummy - that I didn't give birth to her.  (We recently had a bit of a discussion about how the baby gets out of the stomach...her response?  "Ewwww - gross!"  I do need to buy a book that explains it better than me, but I still understand that response at age 7.)  Bailee knows she was raised in an orphanage for her first year by lots of Nannies who loved her very much and that the mom and dad who had her in China couldn't keep her and raise her, but we don't know why.  Basically...the full truth.

It got me to remembering one more thing I did while waiting for the adoption to go through.  Made a 100 Wishes Quilt.  In Chinese adoption circles, they say that it is common in Chinese villages that when a new baby is born the villagers come together with whatever scraps of fabric they have and sew a quilt for the new child.  The tradition among adopting families has morphed a bit and basically you ask friends and family to give you 2 squares of fabric (10" x 10") plus a written wish for the child on a card that includes a smaller scrap (1" square) of that same cloth.  The wishes we received ranged from prayers to poems to notes, quotes and thoughts.  These wishes became my first scrapbook for us. And the fabric which I received?  Amazing!

• Fabric with cherries from one cousin - because our grandmother was famous for her cherry pies and she died a number of years before I adopted Bailee but she's represented in the quilt
• Fabric with sheep from an aunt and uncle who were sheep farmers
• Fabric from the baby blankets or curtains or quilts from several friends' children's rooms.
• Pink velvet - from Tracy, our friend and hairdresser, whose favorite color is pink
• Plaid flannel from Renee's dad's favorite shirt.  Her dad died while we were waiting on our daughters.  I'm so sorry for this but at least he knew Renee and Jim were getting a daughter and he would be so thrilled for the joy she has brought to them.
• Fabric with a hand-painted turtle from my 5th grade school teacher.  Mrs. Zweiger has illustrated several books about the desert and told me that the turtle stands for longevity in the Native American culture.  It does in the Asian cultures as well.
• I pulled fabric from an old prom/banquet dress that Mom made me.
• I even cut up a pillowcase that Nanny (my grandmother) had made me when I was a little girl - pale blue with crescent moons and stars.  I slept on that pillowcase for years and years and now it's part of Bailee's quilt.
• Crocheted appliques that had decorated one of Nanny's aprons.  My cousin Becky lived next door to Nanny growing up and Nanny always wore an apron, especially on Sundays after church.  Becky cut up one of Nanny's quilts so Bailee's quilt could include this piece of Nanny.
• Fabric used in centerpieces from my Uncle LT and Aunt Irene's 65th wedding anniversary celebration.
• Fabric from a Christmas table runner used for years by my Bitner cousins.
• Fabric with American flags and Texas A&M
• Fabric with schoolchildren and bears from my cousin, a school teacher.
• And so much more...

My aunt Jimmie Sue and her quilting group (who have quilted once a week for about 25 years) did the actual quilting after Jimmie Sue pieced these wonderful fabrics together.  To think of these wonderful women from Veribest, Texas doing this delicate work for a little girl they only knew through my aunt.  We stopped by there while they were quilting it about a month after we got back from China - so they were able to meet Bailee.  She crawled under the quilting frame and I'm sure she won them over instantly.

This quilt is now a piece of heritage for Bailee.  She may not have antiques or belongings from her birth mother, but she has a piece of history that represents our family and friends and all the love that welcomed you.

Nothing like a little time with family...to want to smack yourself!

Over 100 degrees in west Texas this weekend and tempers of Bailee and Katie felt like that as well.  They fight like Lisa and I did...like sisters instead of cousins.  Wow!  It gets old listening to this.  Mom's already decided that next summer she will only have one girl at a time...(granted this year it was her choice to have both at once...and I think she regretted it the whole week...) instead of being company for each other they were fighting and fussing.  Took the girls to the pool yesterday (only cooled them off a bit).  And to top if off...tomorrow I have to drive the 6.5+ hours with both girls back to Austin.  And Bailee didn't even pack her DVD and movies this time plus there are virtually no radio stations you can get for much of the drive.  Man, oh man...I'm dreading it! 

We experienced one of the fun memories from my childhood last night..a drive-in movie.  Complete with bringing our own popcorn and pajamas to change into since it would be so late when the movie was over and we drove home.  Midland has the Big Sky Drive-in (with funnel cake...they sure didn't have that when we were kids).  I remember going to the Lobo Drive-in outside of town growing up...even into high school years with girl friends or on dates.  No longer do they have the speaker that hangs on your window but now you listen to the movie on a radio station.  (Too bad we hadn't figured out Mom's new car yet and had to keep turning the key to keep the radio on every 15 minutes but at least we figured out how to do it without turning on the headlights...after the first time.)  We went to see UP. Glad I'd seen it before since I took the back seat and really didn't have a view.  Note to self:  next time bring lawn chairs and sit in front of vehicle.  Nonetheless...it was pretty special to experience on of my favorite childhood memories with the girls.  I still remember when Dad drove out of the Lobo movie theatre when Patton came on (2nd of a double-feature, I guess) and it opened with all the curse words in one of his speeches or something.  Dad said something like "Well, we don't need to listen to this."  Unacceptable for little girls or grown-ups in his mind. 

Mom found notes Dad had written after their 50th wedding anniversary celebration.  He should have kept a journal, or written a book.  His beautiful handwriting.  The wonderful things he wrote.  These days people talk about an attitude of gratitude or keeping a gratitude journal - but that's like what Dad was like all the time.  He appreciated the things he had in life.  These notes talked about all the friends and family who had come for the weekend, the parties (reception at the church hall that Mom and I worked so hard on, the BBQ we had in the backyard for 70ppl, breakfast the next morning for almost 30 people), the laughter.  I remember the stories...the wonderful stories.  Actually their 50th wedding anniversary was my first stab at scrapbooking...I just didn't know it at the time.  I mailed off letters to friends and family asking them to complete a page for a memory book and it now contains wonderful stories, memories and poems along with photos of these people.  That memory book meant the world to Mom and Dad.  Shows the importance of capturing memories.

OK - I'm off to bed.  Bailee's having a hard time going to sleep and I've been so annoyed with her for continuing to get up - 9 times in 15 minutes at last count.  I need to go tell her I love her (no matter how much she annoys me at moments like this - ha!)

Big Picture Scrapbooking came calling (sort of)

Got an email from Kayce with Big Picture Scrapbooking about a new feature on their website and that as a regular student of their online classes...I might possibly may be on that section of the site.  Who knows how many people they're reaching out to and if anything will come of it, but I did call Lisa and scream in her ear...because how cool would that be?

So only one more night before I go pick up Bailee from Nana's and I really needed a month to organize and pick up this house.  How did it get this bad?  Why don't I apply organizational skills (touch paper once - deal with it or throw it away)?  And how did I infect Bailee with this sickness?  I mean it's not even genetic!  Now granted, I may keep too much stuff but she insists on taking everything she owns with her everywhere she goes.  She has 15 bizillion purses and bags (I change my purse maybe once a year) and stuffs each one with crayons, markers, 4 different kinds of paper (plain from my work printer, lined, cardstock and at least 2 notebooks or journals), candy or gum (this is new), 2 stuffed animals, stickers, chapstick, a rock, a flower from the yard, ...you get the idea.  She's a total collector.  I guess I am too but I don't take it with me everywhere I go.

A Week to Myself...to clean house?

So Bailee is at Mom's (Nana's) this week along with her cousin Katie.  I've got just 5 days/nights really since I have to drive out to west Texas and pick them up but still...5 days that I'm trying not to squander.  Since I basically can't stand our house at this point - pig sty, messy, yuck!  And I can't blame it on Bailee because I've allowed her to make these messes and not be responsible for picking up and putting her things away...only myself to blame.  So - I've been cleaning out and up her art supply drawers, her closet, her toy boxes.  The living room will soon only have baskets of books...but no actual toys on the floor?!?!?  Oh my!  Well...we'll see if I truly get this done before Thursday.  The Good Will donation pile is growing as it the children's consignment store clothing tub.  Now I just have to actually go drop these things off before Bailee gets home and wants any of this stuff back! 

I also got a tons of scrapbooking done.  I'm finally creating a school scrapbook for Bailee based on Stacy Julian's "School of Life" design.  5 pages per grade.  Oh well...so I already broke that rule just with Preschool - but she was at Brandi and David's for 4+ years so I figure it deserves more than 5 measly pages...  I also went ahead and put together at least 2 pages for each of the years K-5th grade plus the coordinating color paper - so once I get Kindergarten and 1st Grade pages put together then from now on I should just be able to collect photos and school projects with these pages...and it won't be as much work each year!  So excited.

I've spoken to Bailee several times a day between yesterday and today.  Got to hear how she and Katie painted names on 2 of Nana's turtles and then listen to her cry about why she can't bring a turtle home (they'll crawl under the fence and be gone, honey).  I get to hear everything she ate (yes, my kid) and then there's goodnight.

• B:    Goodnight
• Me: How much do I love you?
• B:    More than anything, Bobblehead!
• Me: Sugar plum
• B:   Honey bun
• Me: Sweet cheeks
• B:    Sweetie pie
• Me: Cutie Patootie
• B:    Daffodil
• Me: Daisy Mae
• B:   Rosebud
• Me: Bright Eyes
• B:   Cupcake
• Me: Bobbie Lou
• B:  How many is that?  Did I win?

This nightly name calling is a routine/tradition for us.  We keep adding new names and Bobblehead is the most recent based on the Albert Einstein bobblehead in A Night at the Museum: The Smithsonian.

 

Cars and crap

Busy weekend before I headed out for DC yesterday on business trip.  On Friday, did laundry and cleaned house (my least favorite thing but can't afford a house cleaner anymore), haircut and highlights on Saturday morning and Linda (college roommate) called Friday night.  She was in town to check on her son at UT who has mono. So she came over Saturday afternoon and stayed through Sunday morning.  It was so great to see her and catch up.  I've been such a poor friend over the last couple of years though I'm committing to do much better moving forward.  Bailee liked riding in the back of Linda's convertible  ...sweet!!!!!!!!!

The other day, Bailee and I were driving behind a truck which had a flatbed behind it loaded with dirt and lumber.  Bailee was curious what they were doing and I explained hauling things for gardening or projects.  She then told me we needed a truck "for our crap".  Now granted this is my one curse word, and has been forever, and though I know I say it around her occasionally I was still a bit shocked Bailee said this.  So I asked her what kind of "stuff" did she think we needed to move around and she said "our arts and crafts"...so maybe the first "crap" was really "crafts"...who knows.  Teach me to be a little more careful.

Speaking of arts and crafts...Tracy has been re-doing her craft room and I've been advising.  So fun telling other people how to arrange their stuff.  Especially since all my stuff does have a place but is rarely in it.  My scrapbooking room is in much better shape since I took the scrapbook organizing class last spring but my actual desk is still a disaster.  Here are photos of some of my space though.  I do like how it came out.  I think yellow, green and red are such cheerful colors.

  

Off to bed.  Much to do tomorrow here in DC.  Checking out activities for our August conference plus looking at about 7 restaurants for potential dine around.  Unseasonably hot here so worn out!