Hello Sunshine! It's nice to see you again

It's so nice to see the sun shining brightly after this long, frigid winter. Athough it is very windy out there, it has been around 50 degrees the past few days and so the snow has finally melted for the most part. The kids had their 12th snow day on Tuesday this past week and now have four days they'll have to make up. Yep, a dozen snow days this year. Plus numerous two-hour delays. It was really nice getting to sleep in, but I think everyone's ready for Spring after the winter we've had. We haven't had a full week of school since before Christmas!

I love "holidays" like President's Day because that means great online shipping deals and sales. lol! Last weekend, JoAnn's had some pretty good ones. On Valentine's Day, they had $2.14 shipping and these really pretty snowflakes dies marked down 60% off for only $10 per set....

so, of course, I had to get both of them since I love snowflakes (and butterflies). They arrived yesterday along with some page protectors that I had ordered for my 6x8 Simple Stories Snap binder that I'm using for my December Daily. However, I was disappointed to find out that the pocket page protectors weren't Simple Stories Snap, but rather, Studio Calico In a Snap page protectors. :( And they didn't fit my binder at all. So I called JoAnn's and they e-mailed me a shipping label and so I sent them all back yesterday afternoon. Bummer. Oh well. Live and learn. I didn't know there are other page protectors out there with the "snap" name in them and when I did the search on the site, that's what came up. The strange thing is that when I ordered those Spellbinders for such a cheap price, I figured they were clearancing them out. They had those snowflake ones and some other Christmasy dies all marked down like that. But then three days later, they were all full price $24.99 again. I'm glad I got them when I did. Then on President's Day, they had .99 cent shipping (and apparently .01 cent shipping that I didn't know about until after I had already placed my order). I needed some 6x12 page protectors for a layout I'm going to be doing that requires very lengthy journaling. I plan to use one of those in between the two pages of my layout for the journaling and maybe extra pictures. So I got those and some packs of enamel dots coming, which were all on sale. I only have three partially-used packs and I think enamel dots add that final touch to a layout sometimes.

My "jury duty" had been rescheduled yet again for the day after President's Day. I tried calling on Friday, Feb 14th, and kept getting a fax machine. I figured they'd probably be closed on Monday, since it was a government holiday and all, so I called a different number for the courthouse to talk to a real person. The girl answering the phone said there was no jury duty until the following Thursday. Ok great. So I just so happen to ask her "what if my original jury date was on january 27th, would I be done on February 27th?" Because I had read in the papers they sent me that it was 30 days. She says to me "Oh no, if yours was that date, you are done. It was only for that one day." Really???!!! And they never bothered to say that on the messages at the number you have to call throughout the month. Grrrrr!!! So my life has been put on hold for the past month for nothing. I was worried about B. and who would pick her up from school, etc. etc. It's so very irritating that they never bothered to TELL ME that they only needed me for that ONE DAY. Not the entire month like the papers say. How was I supposed to know?? It's not like I didn't call every other day to find out if it had been rescheduled yet again. Communication is so important, not to mention courteous. I just think it's so inconsiderate of them not to put on the message you have to call that if your jury date was such and such a day that you are done. How hard would it have been to do that??  Ugh! The girl who answered the phone at the courthouse didn't even ask who I was, or what my jury number is. So I certainly hope she knew what she was talking about.

Yesterday, I found a really pretty shower curtain and matching soap dispenser at T.J. Maxx....

I have had the upstairs hallway bathroom decorated in a black and pink Parisian theme for a few years now. I got a lot of the stuff for that at Kmart and I had gotten a really nice black damask shower curtain at Big Lots since I love damask. But I think it's time for a change and re-decorating the bathroom is one of the more affordable things you can do in your home. And I tend to do this in the springtime for some reason. I don't know what is is about Spring, but that's when I get the urge to re-do things around the house and spruce things up a little..... so I went online just to see if perhaps there were other matching accessories, towels and whatnot that went with this Lenox Butterfly Meadow pattern. I figured it was probably something that had already been discontinued since I had found the shower curtain and soap dispenser at T.J. Maxx. But, great news, it's available online at Macy's!  So after I picked B. up from school, we headed to the mall (where I was able to use a coupon on top of this stuff being on sale) and I placed an order for some matching towels, butterfly shower curtain hooks, toothbrush holder, soap dish, and boutique tissue box cover. It should all be here sometime in the next week. I love this butterfly meadow pattern and think it is soooo pretty. When I called the store, the lady on the phone kept telling me they sell the matching dinnerware. lol! I kept telling her that I don't need my dishes to match my bathroom. I think she finally got the hint. lol!

ETA:  The matching butterfly curtain hooks ended up being expensive pieces of junk. They started falling apart immediately when I took them out of the package. So I returned them to Macy's the day I received them via UPS.

Anyway.... I just wanted to post my two latest layouts from the past couple of weeks. Both of which are back-to-school layouts....

I used some old Bo Bunny school patterned papers along the bottom, along with some black ric-rac, ribbon (school days) and alpha stamps. The title area is bugging me. I may have to change it or I don't know. I used another sketch from the Scrapbook Generation Travel sketches book. I tend to use this book often.

The journaling says:   "Well tomorrow is the big day - your first day of school at _________ Middle School. You're excited to make new friends this year. And here you are all ready to go with all of the school supplies, clothes, and shoes you've picked out over the summer." 

There's a 6x6 pocket in the upper right hand corner where I have a tag with the journaling. The clipboard top and the word "school" are both from a Sizzix die. In fact, I used more than several Sizzix dies on this layout. This was also my first layout using an 8x10 photo. I even did some hand stitching where the butterflies are (you really can't tell on the right page, but it's there).  Sketch inspiration is from the SG travel sketches book. I'm going to make another tag that I will have B. write her school schedule out on that will also go in that pocket.

Well, that's all for now. I hope you all are having a pleasant weekend.....