Stephanie Howell

A Year Ago Today

June 18, 2009

First, thank you so much for your sweet words and for letting me ramble.

Today was, of course, much much better. I had more patience and more positivity.

That’s the good thing about bad days. The next day is always much better. =)

This was one year ago today:

Um, I can’t even believe how much they have grown.

Insane!

A year ago, they were just really starting to notice and tolerate one another. They liked to lay in bed together and kind of just look at each other.

Today, they are usually best friends half the day, and enemies the other half. The new thing they do (it cracks me up) is slowly walk around the house holding hands.

Harper says encouraging things to Sadie while they walk, and Sadie just stares at Harper.

And then Sadie will do something like pull Harper’s hair, stare at her tooooo long, or lick her elbow, and all bets are off.

Oh well.

I wanted to remind you guys about the challenge I want to do, the challenge posed by you guys. I’ve gotten a few suggestions so far

1. a mini about the past year

2. a layout about my family

any more?

I’d like to do your challenge with my Studio Calico July kit, but time’s running out and I just don’t think I have time to do the mini. Any more requests?

Currently I’m reading this

51zi07ARkWL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-big-look,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_

Uhh I’m ashamed to admit it, but I had to return The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb to the library. I tried and tried and could not make myself read it.

So I’ve moved on to something a bit more…..lighthearted??

I love Tori Spelling and I loved her first book. I really like this one, but I suspect I’ll be done soon.

Any suggestions? The girls and I visit the library weekly and I’m always looking.

One more thing.

Studio Calico subscribers will now get anadvance opportunity to purchase new add-on kits each month. Beginning with July’s kit, subscribers will be able to purchase their add-ons and shop items 12 hours in advance of reveal (12:00 noon on the 27th). Some add-ons will also be held in reserve and posted for sale at 12:00am for the traditional reveal.
Not a subscriber? Email waitinglist@studiocalico.com now to preorder your subscription!

exciting news indeed!

Hope you have a beautiful Thursday.

xoxo

The Day from Hell

June 17, 2009

Okay. I’m going to warn you. This post is going to contain a tiny pity party. I said tiny. Really. As you all know, I’m pretty good at keeping things in perspective. But the beginning of this post contains a vent. If you are one of the people that finds that “annoying” or “whiny”, then you should probably stop reading now. Warning over. =)

Yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Rotten in a million ways.

I had a headache.

BOTH children screamed, cried, whined, or threw a fit all day.

Sometimes in tandem, sometimes one at a time.

But when they had their morning meeting

(I let them sing and talk to each other for a good half hour or so before I get them up in the morning)

When they had said meeting, they decided that yesterday was the day to give me a run for my money.

And they apparently pinkie swore that neither one of them would let there be a single silent moment all day.

And they kept their promise.

Snotty, pitiful, broken heart, you’ve offended me to the core mommy crying.

No naps from either.

Thrown things, broken things, hitting, pulling hair,

licking (Sadie licked Harper’s elbow, and to hear Harper tell it, the world almost IMPLODED at that very moment), kicking, throwing of bodies on the floor,

indignant, furious looks…You name it we had it.

Also this little gem in the morning

Harper: mama, sadie is giving me THE STINK EYE!!!!!!!

me: seriously? i’ve got to quit saying things around you.

What I wanted to do was quote the line from Juno,

” And I doubt she gave you the stinkeye, that’s just how her face looks, you know? That’s just her face.”

But I didn’t quote this line for several reasons.

a. Sadie’s face does NOT always look like she’s giving you the stink eye.

b. I don’t want to put that lovely idea in Harper’s head. We’d never hear the end of it.

Anyway, moving on. As I was saying…

IT WAS HORRID.

One or the other was always in the naughty spot, or getting the “Mommy stink eye”, or on their way to the naughty spot.

I was at the end of my rope. I wasn’t speaking kindly or patiently to either.

How can I be an example of kindness,love, and grace

if I’m not using those things?

How can I lecture Harper about being mean to Sadie, if I’m raising my voice?

That makes no sense.

So, last night, after Sadie was tucked safely in bed,

Okay, that’s a lie. Let me rephrase.

After Sadie had tried every cheap trick she had to get me to come in there and get her up,

and after Sadie fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion (and probably anger),

and after Harper was in bed, shooting disgusted, infuriated looks at the door,

and probably sending Sadie morse code signals of how UNFAIR it all was,

I sat in the rocking chair and cried.

And felt sorry for myself for a little bit.

I lamented, and pitied, and reflected….

got angry for a bit. WHY IS IT that everyone complains about their husbands playing too much golf? Or going away for the weekend for work? IT’S NOT FAIR.

And in the quiet, this thought entered my head.

“yes it is fair. it’s life. you chose this life. you are blessed. everyone feels frustration with their situation. everyone misses their loved ones, whether they are gone for a year to a war zone, or gone for a weekend to a business trip in buffalo. those feelings are still valid”.

I prayed for kindness today. For the words that come out of my mouth to be soft spoken. For the motive behind my actions to be love. Clearly love.

And this morning, I looked at this face standing in her crib yelling maaaaMA maaaaMA. This face that broke into a priceless grin the moment she saw me:

and after this little munchkin ran down the all bright-eyed and crazy haired

yelling

GOOOD MORNING MAMAAAAAA!! I WOVE YOU AND I MISSED YOU WHEN WE WERE AWAY!!!!!

I smiled, hugged them both and said “Today will be a good day!”.

And it will.

Because I have two healthy little girls who, after all, are JUST little girls. I need to remember that. I am not dealing with fully functioning, rational adults.

And I have a husband who loves me. Who is in love with me. Who wants to be married to me. He hasn’t left me. Something tragic didn’t happen to him. We HAVE him. We are just geographically separated, that’s all.

Here’s to perspective, to beginning today in a positive day.

I’ll let you know how it goes, ha!!!

p.s. i know we all have the right to miss our men, no matter where they are. but a word to the wise….

perhaps it would be best to wait until I leave the room to loudly bemoan the fact that you NEVER get massages anymore b/c your husband has to play golf. I’m just saying.

I mean, feel free to say it in front of me,

but that will definitely 100 percent, no doubt

earn you the stink eye.

at the very least.

maybe the birdie, too.

Currently

June 10, 2009

she:

(photo taken while playing “this little piggy” with my best friend, Michelle’s feet)

1. is still hilarious. current gems:

a. FOOSHAY! (touche)

b. Raaaaaaandom!

c. after sniffing a cup of curdled milk that we found “OOOH, yuck! What is dat? hiney or somepin???”- this one happened this afternoon and i’m still laughing about it.

d. it’s HOT! milk was a bad choice!

e. i fink Sadie pulled my hair b/c she’s fwustwated. and she’s trying to tell us, but all she can say is “DUH”.

f. mama, i gave you a compliment. you’re posed to say fank you.

g. after i flipped through the radio stations and she heard a bit of “dangerous” on the radio…”mama? did he say she’s dangerous? what did she do, run in the street or somepin???”.

2. is very into encouragement. tonight i was taking the trash out and she was following me saying “GOOD JOB MAMA!!!, you are doing a gweat job! i’m so pwoud of you! see, you can do ANYFING you want to!!!”.

3. starts gymnastics tomorrow. i have a feeling she is going to LOVE it.

4. is seriously obsessed with the Mamma Mia soundtrack. i mean, really. what 3 year old loves ABBA? mine does. if she makes me listen to “honey, honey” or “super trooper” one more time, i’m going to jump out of the @#*$@(*$( window of the car.

5. is getting taller, but is still SO skinny. i guess gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free life will do that to you.

This one:

1. is certifiably INSANE. or she’s making me insane…either way. she climbs, grabs, snatches, screeches, jumps, falls, kicks, pinches, pulls hair, breaks things….you name it, she does it.

2. makes lots of sounds and likes to have loooooong nonsensical conversations with herself. her favorite words are BOPPPPA!!!! (harper), puuuuP! (poop- nice), jussss (juice), BUH BYE!!, nah nah (While wagging her finger at me), anahNUH (banana) and my personal favorite..TA DA!!!! (while holding her hands up in the air, like she’s a gymnast who has just stuck the perfect landing. she usually does this at me after she’s done something reallllly naughty. it’s infuriatingly cute).

3. is doing this weird extended blink, bowing her head thing. it’s hilarious and i don’t know what it is.

4. runs everywhere. her favorite place to run is AWAY FROM ME.

5. has almost platinum blonde streaks in her hair. crazy.

I am:

1. thrilled that i accidentally discovered that you can buy wine in “juice boxes” at target. well, really wine boxes, but you catch my drift. whoever invented this is genius.

2. still grinning from cutting the second to last link off the deployment paper chain today.

3. about to start reading “The Hour I First Believed” by Wally Lamb. checked it out at the library today.

4. still listening to the “GLEE”” soundtrack on repeat.

5. did my first layout (A TWO PAGER!!!!) with the july studio calico kit. hoping to have more time to play soon.

Hope you had a lovely day!

I’ll leave you with a few new photos.

Happy Wednesday.

In the News at the Howell Household

June 9, 2009

1. Here’s what I’ll be doing at Crop, Paper, Scissors this weekend. I’ll be bringing my favorite Lily Bee, October Afternoon, and Jenni Bowlin layouts and teaching you how to make them. Three Kits will be for sale and range from 10-14 dollars.

There will also be giveaways. No registration necessary. From 1-3 p.m.

ETA: i will be just bringing my favorite layouts using Cherry Hill (October Afternoon), French Couture (Lily Bee), and Front Porch (Jenni Bowlin)

the lily bee layout will be the yellow ribbon layout below!!

2. I found out bright and early this morning that Jimmy has been promoted to major (two years early). What a way to wake up!! I was yelling and saying dorky things to J like “I’M MAJORLY PROUD OF YOU!!!!” teeheee. Anyway, it’s an understatement to say I’m proud to be his wife.

3. Tomorrow we cut the next to last link off of the chain. We will cut the last chain off when J comes home. On the way home from running errands, I let myself think about holding him, knowing he’s safe for a while. I don’t let myself think about this often, I have lots of caution when it comes to believing he’s coming home. Just thinking about it made me cry. I think when i can just sit with him, rest my head on his shoulder, put my arms around him, and know that he is home, I will just lose it. But he’s used to having my snot on his shoulder. =)

4. I love how busy summer is. Makes the days pass quickly, and I’m grateful for that right now. Library trips, swimming in the baby pool, gymnastics lessons, vacation bible school, the spray park…life is good.

Have a beautiful day! xo

and b/c you KNOW i can’t have a post without photos, here are some of H playing with photo booth on my Mac. She was CRACKING UP!!!

and yes, yes, that is a bow and rhinestone on my mac baby. you should not be surprised by that in the slightest!!

Untraditional Patriotic/Military Scrapbook Layouts

June 8, 2009

** reminder: i’m teaching make and takes this weekend at crop paper scissors in waco from 1-3, no registration necessary. i hope to see you there!!***

Several of you have written to me asking me to share military layouts.

I simply don’t do them very often. I don’t know why.

I don’t know if I’m treasuring those few photos I have of J in uniform,

keeping them to myself, scared i’ll “ruin” them by scrapping them.

The few I have done are not traditional. No camo, no red white and blue in the usual sense.

Here’s an older layout that i just LOVE. I miss seeing those boots at my door!

This one uses the “army green” color, but also damask and scrolls.

You don’t have to use “girly things” only on girly layouts.

this is the most themed/traditional fourth of july page i’ve done.

i love red white and blue.

this one has touches of stars, red, white, and blue.

but also butterflies. see a theme here? haha

this one gives me a lump in my throat. i remember how scared i was when i made this.

it is indeed possible to use “camo” photos with bright colors.

here i used red, pink, and green.

and yes, i used lace. but it’s okay. it conveys the moment

just as i want to remember it.

this one uses red, white, and blue but in a traditionally “feminine” pattern. swirls and damask. the yellow ribbon says a lot without having to use too many words, i think. and you can’t really tell but there is a rhinestone star pinned through the bow.

touch of camo with the scenic route paper around the photo.

sometimes converting military photos to black and white works well, you can use them with more papers.

this is one of the very first military pages i made. this page probably contains my all time

favorite journaling.

this one also has touches of r/w/b.

but like most of the other layouts, i don’t limit myself to just those colors.

and a new one i did this weekend:

cardstock- bazzill

patterned paper- cosmo cricket, sassafras

letters- american crafts

star-westrim

punch- fiskars apron lace

labels- october afternoon

bird- chatterbox

I used a star to do the “i”. there is a lot of r/w/b on this layout but i also incorporated green with the label stickers.

I need to do more layouts like these. I realize they mean much more to me than many of the other layouts I make.

It really is all about telling stories and recording precious moments. Well, duh. I know this isn’t rocket science. But sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the cool thing to scrap/use on your pages. How much stuff you can get on a page…how intricate the page can be. What everyone else is doing.

It’s just not about that with me. The pictures and the story are what it’s all about to me.

I love new things just as much as the next person. Don’t get me wrong. I love them, and I love playing with them.

But down the line, no one is going to be saying oh, look at that product! or…”look at that technique!!”. i hope with all of my heart that someone will be treasuring the story. Sometimes I lose sight of that, that’s all.

Thanks for listening to my rambling. I hope you all have a beautiful day. xo

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