In the midst off all of my many, many doctor appointments, we found time to do a little allergy testing. The news was not good. I am allergic to every grass God ever planted. I am allergic to dust, which explains why I get sick every time I clean. I am allergic to my cats! And of all of the things they tested me for, what came back as the most severe allergy? Oh the cats, yup- they so won. 2007 gets yet another vote for suckiest year EVER.

So that sucks. I admit, I did see it coming, I was tipped off by the urge to tear my eyeballs out of their sockets every time I loved on Lissy or Gus, and then having a sneezing fit, and waking up wheezing after Gus slept on my pillow all night.

Because I have gone in to anaphylactic shock twice in the past year with no concrete reason why, we have to assume that I have a threshold for how much dander, pollen, dust, nuts, etc I can take at one time. And when that threshold is reached, my throat closes. Score! Fun times.

The responsible thing to do would be to get rid of both cats, tear up all of my carpeting (ha, wouldn’t military housing love that!), and breathe through a filtered mask until I can move to a place where allergies can be seasonal, California not included since it lacks the ability to have actual seasons.

The allergist is going to help me find some more realistic ways of dealing with things, which will probably include a new medication. The Claritan isn’t cutting it. However, I have to wait for two more weeks to make that appointment because they sent out several blood tests to determine which foods I can eat and by which insects I can safely be stung. I am waiting for the results before we create a plan of attack, since some of these allergies can really alter the situation.

I did bite the bullet and return Gus to the rescue because I really needed to reduce the allergens somehow. I feel like a total jerk, but my health? It’s kind of important. The ability to breath? More than a fleeting hobby.

The good news is that we got Gus from a rescue that has a lifetime commitment to their cats, so I know he is safe, and he will be extremely well looked after until they find him a new family. When I brought him back, Gus immediately picked a up a girlfriend, and this shocked the rescue owners because this tiny lady kitty didn’t usually take to other cats, but the minute she saw my sexy silver smoke, she jumped right in the kennel with him to love him up. That made me feel good. Plus, the people at the rescue welcomed him with open arms, oohing and ahhing over how completely gorgeous he was and how much they liked him, and remembered him from before.

Despite all of this, it wasn’t an easy choice to make. I cried over it for a week, and when I went to drop him off, I pulled up and just sat there in the car sobbing until the nice rescue people came out and got me. They said most people return cats are kind of “Here. Take him.” Then they zoom away, so having someone who really hated what she had to do was a little different. I felt a like a boob crying getting all snotty and emotional, but at least I was with people who got it and who understood.

Chris was bummed. Gus was more his cat than mine. But Lissy was here first and since she showed up starving after being dumped by her previous owners, she has no place to go. That and I owe this cat. She was with me through one of the worst periods of my life. I know God has a lot of angels, and some of them are in cat form. She didn’t show up at my door because she needed me; she showed up because I needed her. So I owe her, and I’m going to do everything I can to hold on to her. And, even though it makes me a little sad to admit it, Lissy shows no remorse at all over being a single cat again. She is back to her overly affectionate self and loves that all the food is hers and hers alone. I’m sure she is also loving the fact that I am feeling so guilty I’m spoiling the only cat I have left rotten, buying the really fancy cat food.

I am planning on trying allergy shots and checking into air filters. I’m doing the obvious things like keeping my bedroom cat free. I’m trying not to go outside too much until we can get me on a better drug for the grass. I am totally open to suggestions for how to manage this. My favorite one would be to hire a cleaning lady, but cleaning ladies? They like to be paid.

Hey people! The Scrapbook Nook has teamed up with Basic Grey to offer an awesome mini album kit- and each kit that is sold will benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation! Now, Basic Grey has created a class based on the kit. It is a darling date book, very simple to make. But, because I can’t leave well enough alone, and I’m big on offering choices to the people who buy kits from our site, I’ve done my own Baby’s 1st Year class- and I’m offering it right here for all of you. Please, please buy this kit if you can swing it!

You get:
1 bracket album
1 package of magnetic buckles
1 set of ribbons
1 6x6 Lily kate paper pad
1 set of rub ons
1 huge set of alphabet stickers and
1 set of die cut letters!

It is $40 worth of goodies for a very good cause plus, you get it for $37, so you save a little too.

Baby’s First Year Book: By Leah Killian

Overview:

You will require all of the supplies that come in our Kit for the Cure, less the rubons.
It is also advisable to use an emory board, sanding block, or other strong distressing tool for your edges. You will need 6 of the chipboard book pieces.

All edges will be distressed- so I will not make that distinction in further instructions.

All measurements are in inches.

Page 1:

1. Cover the page with the bamboo paper.
2. Cut a piece of the Vanilla to 3 ½ x 5 ½ inches, lay it over the bamboo, slightly above center, and hanging off of the right side.
3. Use three different ribbons to create a tiered effect from the right side.
4. Adhere the number one die cut over the ribbons using a pop dot.

Page 2:

1. Cover the page with Apple Blossoms paper.
2. Cut a mat from the Posey paper 5 1/8 x 4 3/8
3. Cut another mat out of the Chenille paper that is slightly smaller at 4 1/4 x 5 inches.
4. Adhere the mats to each other and then to your base, slightly above center
5. Run a length of ribbon across the bottom of the mat
6. Use the brown letter stickers to write “two” on the mat.
Also: I have inked this page in brown ink, in case you would prefer to ink rather than distress. Here you can see what that would look like.

Page 3:

1. Cover the page with Pansy paper.
2. Cut a mat from the Vanilla at 4 ½ x 4 7/8 - adhere (centered on the page) with pop dots.
3. Cut or punch three flowers using the Posey, Celery & Twinkle papers.
4. Cut three stems from the Chocolate paper.
5. Assemble and adhere 3 flowers on the right side of the page.
6. Center a #3 letter sticker on th e tallest flower.

Page 4:

1. Cover the page in Parasol paper.
2. Cut 1 3/4 inches of the Posey paper and put in across the bottom of the page.
3. Cut a mat out of the Twinkle paper (3 7/8 x 4 3/4)- adhere with pop dots.
4. Use the large letter stickers to spell “FOUR” Across the bottom of the mat.
5. Run a length of rick-rack the full length of the page where the Posey meets the Parasol

Page 5:

1. Cover the page in Queen Ann paper
2. Cut a 4x4 mat from the Chocolate and adhere to the left of the page.
3. Take the soar paper and cut it 1 3/4 x 6 inches, be careful to not cut off the bird portion of the paper. Cut around the bird so it sticks out from the paper.
4. Adhere this strip to the right side of the page.
5. Run the blue ribbon down the length of this strip, underneath the bird.
6. Secure the bird’s head and wing with a pop dot.
7. The small square on the right side is for journaling. Cut it however large you need it for what you want to say.

Page 6:

1. Cut strips of the following a line them up Neopolitan Ice Cream Style: Posey (6 x 2 ½), Vanilla ( 6 x 3/4), Chocolate (6 x 3).
2. Run a length of ribbon between the Vanilla and Chocolate.
3. Free hand cut out a large heart from the Chenille paper. You can trace the design first or fold the paper in half as if you were making a grade school Valentine. It is ok to fold it because you will be distressing it.
4. Adhere the die cut #6 in the lower right hand corner.

Page 7:

1. Cover the page in Mia paper.
2. Cut a mat from the Rain paper 5 ½ x 4.
3. Adhere mat centered, going off of the left side of the page.
4. Run a strip of ribbon across the bottom of the mat.
5. Use the green letter stickers to spell “seven”.

Page 8:

1. Cover the page in Wisteria paper.
2. Cut Celery paper 6 x 3 1/4 - run it through the center of the page.
3. Frame the edges of the Celery paper with the blue velvet ribbon.
4. Cut a flower from the Mia paper, have it growing out of the lower blue ribbon.
5. Adhere the word “eight” in letter stickers across the ribbon and over the flower.

Page 9:

1. Cut a strip of Bamboo and Chocolate paper 6 x 3 inches. Cover the page Bamboo on top.
2. Cut Mat from Posey paper at 3 1/4 x 4 inches.
3 Adhere the mat centered to the right of the page.
4. Use green letter stickers to spell the word “nine” at the top of the Chocolate paper.

Page 10:

1. This page’s base is created using scraps. Cut several scraps into different sized rectangles. Adhere one off center and build off of that added other pieces of paper until you over lap the edge and can trim it to fit the design. Toward the end you will probably have to trim one or two to create a perfect fit.

2. Cut a mat from Celery paper 4 ½ x 3 ½ . Adhere with pop dots.
3. Run a length of ribbon down the left side of the mat.
4. Use the large brown letter stickers to write “ten” under the mat.

Page 11:

1. Cover your base with Parasol paper.
2. Cut a strip of Vanilla nd Celery 2 1/4 x 4 inches, center them joined together to create one mat in the center of you page.
3. Run ribbon across the bottom.
4. Use the small brown letter “L” s as ones to create the number “11″.

Page 12:

1. Cover the page with Twinkle paper.
2. Cut a mat from the Wisteria paper 5 x 4 1/4 - adhere it centered with pop dots.
3. Cut a small rectangle from chocolate and place in the lower right hand corner.
4. Place the die cut number 12 over the brown.

To create the ribbon wrap:

1. Cut 12 inches of the elastic ribbon
2. Tie both ends to either part of magnetic buckle.
3. Cut a tag from the Celery paper
4. Run a small strip of Rain paper across the bottom of the tag
5. Punch or cut out another flower and center that on the tag.
6. Using a combination of letter stickers and handwriting write “Baby’s 1st year” on the tag.
7. Tie the tag to the face of the buckle.

Click here to get a kit!
And let them know who sent you