First of all, thanks again to everyone for their prayers. You’re a great encouragement to me right now 
My doctor has diagnosed me with hyponatremia (low blood sodium) and adrenal dysfunction. They want to check my lipids, because high cholesterol can exacerbate this problem. I will have to fast from 9:30 tonight until 9:30 tomorrow morning, and when they get the lipid profile results back, they’ll send me to an internist to determine the proper course of treatment.
*sigh*
I’m coping with all of this news by, essentially, not thinking about it. To distract myself, I spent the morning making Bee’s birthday party invitations.
The great thing about being a scrapbooker is that I always have plenty of card stock, ribbons, decorative scissors, stickers, punches, and other fun supplies on hand. I find that when I’m upset, doing something creative is soothing to me. I remember that when I was a kid, I was always comforted by coloring in a coloring book, or making a snowflake, or just cutting and pasting pictures from magazines to make a collage. Scrapbooking is my grown-up version of art therapy.
I made these Barbie “12 Dancing Princesses” party invitations by printing an image on white cardstock, cropping it and rounding the corners, and gluing it to the front of folded, pink, 8 1/2 x 11 card stock. I printed the header on white card stock, and trimmed it with a decorative scissors. I attached the bow by punching 2 holes with a paper punch, and threading them with pink craft ribbon:
All of the party specifics, including directions to our house, are inside:
These invitations will fit in standard greeting card envelopes, which can be purchased by the box at Wal-Mart. It took about a half hour to make 3 invitations, and I didn’t worry about my health once!
Last night, Bee begged me to get the Halloween decorations out. I didn’t feel much like decorating, but these things are so important to her, so I dragged the Halloween box up from the basement. We wove (or is it weaved? I never remember. See how my English degree is paying off?) garlands through the porch railing,
and Bee agonized over the perfect way to decorate the front door:
She was very dismayed to find that mice had gotten into our garage storage cabinet, and had eaten a hole in Samantha the Scarecrow’s sleeve. I assured her that it just makes Samantha look more authentic:
We decorated the mantle,
and put my sweet little witch on the china cabinet. I’ve always loved this witch, because her pudgy apple cheeks remind me of my girls:
The final touch was our Looney Tunes Halloween lights in the kitchen window, along with the Kleenex ghost family that Bee made in preschool:
Cakesie was so excited to see all of the decorations when she got up this morning. She cracked us up by grabbing a little light-up pumpkin and doing a funny little dance:
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One of the great rewards of raising children is that they can always find a way to make you smile.
