Just some chatter

I thought I'd chatter a bit. No pictures tonight. I'm working on my first submissions to the SSReflections ezine, and I can't share them until they've been published next month. I did a designers challenge with digital elements. It's the first piece I've ever done in digital collage, and I'm so surprised at how easy I found it. I also found out this week that I won a contest for my designer paper using acrylic resist ( this post. I won a $10 gift certificate to juliaandrus.com. I was really surprised! I submitted it for a challenge on the yahoo group, The Latest Trends in Mixed Media Arts, and people got to vote for their favorite paper. It was tie between my paper and another paper, so we each got a gc! Like I said, shocked and pleased. I usually don't win anything, not even by plain dumb luck.

What else? Lacey is doing great. She fits right in. Still just a sweet girl. Very smart. I've already taught her how to sit and if I wave to her, she will wave back. She is starting to go to the door when she has to go out, so housetraining is moving right along, too. Brandy is pretty tolerant of her, except when Lacey tries to eat out of Brandy's bowl. Dylan adores her. She's so cute, too. She tilts her head to the side and looks at me like she's confused when I call her name. We definitely got the right puppy!

I made another felted bag. This one is for me. It's small, a clutch. I have to add some frills to it, but I really like it. I think I'm going to put a chain on it so I don't have to carry it in my hand, so it won't really be a clutch, but I'm getting better at the bags and they are really fun and easy to do. My daughter wants one, and she doesn't even carry a purse! So that's been my life for the last few days, having some fun. My son, Dustin, turned 17 today (well, I guess at this point it was yesterday). Ugh. How does this happen? One day, you're looking into this little face that depends on you for everything and the next, you're looking up at a young man who can take care of himself. And Dustin is my angel. He's the best kid a parent could ever hope for, and I'm not being a mom about that. This kid slept on schedule, ate on schedule, has always listened. He takes care of Dylan more than I do. He is just a good, good kid. Very sensible. My favorite story about him. When he was two, he still wasn't talking much. I was worried that there might be a problem. Then one day I walked into his room in a pair of shorts. He stood up in his crib and said "Mom, I like you legs." Not "your legs", "you legs". We still howl about it. It was the sweetest thing.

Have a good night. I'm off to bed.