Hey, I did something new!

I made a layout using the Elegant Brag Book template set by freestylemama's creations, which you can see below. I haven't done much in the 4X6 size before now but I think I'm hooked! I can see myself making a whole book for my mother with themed photos for each page.

It felt really weird to work with July 4th pictures when it's so darned cold here in South Carolina. I think it was only about 55 degrees today. Yes, I'm a wimp when it comes to cold weather. To think we almost moved to Minnesota! Yikes!

I'm a little bummed out today. We had been feeding a little stray cat for a couple of weeks now. I don't know what we thought we were going to do with it - we already have three indoor cats! The poor little thing was scrawny and its fur was scruffy and even gone in places where it looked like it had been in a fight and been hurt. It was terrified of people and would run if we came out the door, but it liked to come sit on our porch and eat out of the bowl of cat food we left there. I put a box out on the porch with a towel in it and occasionally Scruffy Kitty would even lay down in the box. I just kept thinking if we fed it and tread carefully, maybe we could "tame" it eventually. I hadn't seen the kitty for a couple of days but I think I found her this morning, laying dead in the road near our subdivision. Poor little thing! I hope she didn't feel any pain.

Otherwise, life is pretty good. My mother is having a melanoma removed the week of Thanksgiving and while you wouldn't think that's something to be thankful for, it really is. Ever since she received her diagnosis I have been in a quiet panic that it's more serious than she's saying. I'm too young to lose my Mama! Since then, I have actually spoken to the nurse in the surgeon's office and they assure me that it is a very early Stage 1 cancer. She lives 3 hours away from me in my hometown and the nurse called (at my mother's request) to schedule the surgery with me, so that I could be there. Wasn't that kind of them? Our Thanksgiving will be just a little more meaningful this year, at least for me. Plus, Mom's having surgery means that yours truly will be responsible for cooking our Thanksgiving Dinner! I will be recruiting the help of my 19 year old daughter. It's time she learned to cook!

So here's my layout. I just colored the background red and created a few stars for color. I'll be working with Cen's Purrfect Kit next, I promise.