Michael is home from Iraq!!

I know I never mentioned it in this blog (for security reasons) but Michael has been in Baghdad for the last 4 1/2 months. He came home safe and sound this past Thursday.

Our neighbors made this slide to project on our garage door to celebrate his homecoming!

We have been very lucky to communicate daily by email and many phone calls but nothing is as good as being able to see his face again and know that he is safe.

Thank you everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers. It has meant a lot to both of us. Andrew and I are so proud of our hero and of all the good work he was able to accomplish while there. We are celebrating and grateful that he was able to come home on time but we have not forgotten, especially on this Memorial Day, that many families have not been so lucky.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the remaining soldiers and their families that still have a long and worrisome wait to endure.

I won a contest!

Woohoo! I'm royalty!

Ok, not real royalty but stamping royalty. I entered a handmade card into Paper Crafts magazine's Stamping Royalty contest and I won in the the category of color washes and distressing with ink. An editor called me on Monday to tell me the good news. I've won over $200 worth of stamping products that will be arriving in about 2 weeks, my card will be published in the November issue of the magazine, and I get to be a part of the design team for the magazine for the next year! I'm so excited!

The card I made is red, black, and tan and has the Chinese symbol for love as the focal image. Here's a link to the stamp set I used:

http://carolynh.myctmh.com/WebSites/Templates/MyCTMH/Template1.aspx?PageID=39411&Search=Yes

And here's a link to the magazine's website:

http://www.papercraftsmag.com/

I'm not sure when they'll post the list of winners on the website though. (I believe there are 20 winners total.)

I never did take a picture of the card before I mailed it in but I can't post it anyway until after it's published so we'll have to wait until the November issue comes out to see it.

Hmmm, I wonder if I'll get a tiara in my prize box?

(just kidding ;-)

Kittens

We have known for awhile that there is a stray cat hanging out under our front steps. Bailey brilliantly decided to shove her head in the opening to this cavern of sorts under the steps and got a nice scratch on the nose for it. That was a few weeks ago. I thought it had left, but Bailey knew better. She has been hanging out at the front door and scratching at the little rug trying to "find" the cat. Last week I finally saw the real reason for the cat's stay. Five kittens! I've now been feeding them for almost a week while I formulate a plan for their future. One now has a permanent home with a neighbor but the 4 remaining will have to go to the Humane Society later this week. They are getting big and playful and eating some solid kitten food. They are at their most adoptable so I need to get them out of here. Andrew and I are quite attached though!

"I know there's something out there! Let me at it!"

Aren't they cute!?