Pulling it Together

"Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together".

- Liz Taylor

OK, so the kids were all home and now they've all gone back to their lives.  I spent yesterday feeling sad  wallowing, actually - too much chocolate, too many TV reruns and mountains of soggy tissues. I've been over this ground here before.  I am not good at the departure phase of kids' visits home!

This morning I woke up determined to get a grip! Of course I wish they lived closer - what mother doesn't?  But I decided to focus on all the good stuff - this is one smart, happy, independent, and productive group of kids. All that and  they do still want to come home now and then!  Life is good.

Thinking about putting on the big girl pants and dealing with life made me aware again that happiness is often a choice.  Frankly, my choice yesterday was to wallow, but I don't really want to live there.  When I woke to sunshine this morning, I thought of this quote and knew what I needed to do with it - a new journal page.

I love experimenting with water colors.  For the page on the left, drew a bird (the absolute limit of any drawing ability), then washed on some water colors.  I added a piece of paper ribbon as the french fry and outlined the bird with a fine tip Sharpie pen for a little definition.  I printed the quote, inked the edges with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and glued with down with matte gel.

The two birdies on the right were stamped with Wild Honey Distress Ink and clear embossed, then washed over with water colors.  I outlined these with a white gel pen.

Here's to happiness and the wisdom of Liz Taylor!