Sending Hugs to My Moose

Hello there my friends! Today, I once again made a masculine card, but this time, it was intentional. This card is for my youngest son, who made the best decision ever to move to Chico to finish college! Maybe it's just a tad girly, but he won't care because there's a check inside. I can't tell you how happy I've been. I'm even looking forward to laundry days to do his laundry again! Then there's family dinner time. That will be the best. Moose has become quite the cook and it will be fun to cook with him. He's coming down in 2 weeks so we can do the college thing together and talk to an advisor. We did this last semester, but he was 3 credits shy and we were really bummed. Moose is 20 years old now and he's going to have to start answering to a lot of names. He started going by Peter almost 2 years ago when he moved to Ferndale and my friends and family are going to call him Moose or Scott. Moose is his childhood nickname that stuck with him and everybody in New York called him that, even his friends and school teachers! The family calls him both Moose and Scott. I alternate myself. So I don't know if he's going to continue the Peter thing or not in Chico. It will confuse the new friends that he is going to make.

He asked me if I still had my dad's bike yesterday and I told him that I did and he wants it to ride around Chico. That really warmed my heart. My dad loved to ride his bike and now Scott will be riding it.

So, I found the PERFECT off-campus place for him to live. It's like a dormitory, but it's not a dormitory, more like a community only for students. He can have his own space with no roommates and his father and I think it's just right for Scott. He has a dual major in Math and Electrical Engineering and is incredibly brilliant. He's the kind of young man who is very serious about his studies and wants and needs his own space and will go out and socialize when he wants to. I did 3 videos for him of my tour showing him everything and uploaded them to my You Tube Channel so he could see them. I did a tour of his room, the dining hall and general campus amenities. It's very reasonably priced. His security and happiness are both a priority for his father and I, and his father really liked it too. I told Moose that I'm done hunting for him because I really believe he found the perfect place. He found it online and I just went for the tour. I was there for almost 2 hours and talked to several students individually and in a group before I went inside for my appointment and none of them had anything bad to say. The reviews were awful and I almost didn't go, but Scott sounded really excited when he told me about it and so I made an appointment and I'm really happy that I went. Don't always believe what you read on the internet – we all know that, but in this instance and when it involves my son, or any of my kids for that matter, neurotic mom comes out.

Now I'm super motivated to really get my craft space in tip-top shape and the 2 boxes in the living room unpacked and put away before his visit. I have bad, bad, bad unpacking and organizing burnout. I'm doing it right this time since I plan on being here for awhile. God might have different plans for me, but it was important for me to feel like I finally had a place of my own again. A real home and one that I could call my own. My garage could use a good organization too, but I'm not going to push it. I can get my car in it and it's really not that bad. If I got some Rubbermaids, I could get 3 cars in it since it's a 3-car garage. I have to get the carpets cleaned from all of the move-in dirt. I only have carpet in the hallways and bedrooms.

So, y'all have to pray for my son's happiness, health and safety. This is a big change for him, but I am 5 miles away. He got accepted to 2 other universities and applied to 3 total and was accepted by them all. I automatically ruled one out because there was no family close to him and I knew he would not go there. We both knew the other would not look good on his resume and did not have the program that he needed for his dual major. He said it was a university for "drug etiquette," as it's in Humboldt County and if you're unfamiliar with California geographics, it happens to be the "pot capital" of the United States. Seriously. It's also a university more for Ag students. I think Scott knew that too. Again, he's also 20 and wanted to get out on his own and do the "young adult thing." I'm all for it if it doesn't include women, drugs or alcohol. Scott has his head on straight and I'm very proud of him.

Sooooo, about my card, eh? I've been wanting to break out and ink up My Favorite Things Stamps Fall Florals for quite some time now and with their new colors, I definitely got my ink on experimenting with different color combinations with the 29 stamps in the set and coordinating Die-Namics. So much fun! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the new shape of the Premium Dye Inks. They are larger and hold so much more ink. I will never know how one company can have so much green and pull it off. I also used the fabulously cool Label Maker Sentiments and coordinating Die-Namics.

Okay, I've rambled on long enough and it's time for me to put my card up for you to see! It's actually a tad less than a 4-bar size and I mailed it off to my son in a regular envelope that can hold an A2-size card since I had a few of my florals off the card. It worked out perfectly. Moose always put everything I made him into a special box. I wonder if he still has it.

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit me today. God bless you, bless others and make every second count. Time is a precious commodity and the "things" that are worth the most in life cannot be bought.

After going outside to check on Bella, I only have a few things on the floor behind my sofa and not boxes. I just have to find a home for those items and I already know where they belong. For my newsletter subscribers and blog followers, I will have an unlisted private You Tube video for you of each room of my house to keep each video short, in the near future. My home is my space. It's peaceful and quiet and has good vibes. I discovered a little trick a few days ago. The comforter in the guest room came out of the dryer all wrinkly so I just plugged in the iron and had it with an extension cord and ironed the wrinkles out while the bed was made so I didn't have to make it again. Talk about the ultimate lazy way! Friends, my Martha Stewart days are over with, to an extent, I'm into the Living part now.