In A Galaxy Far Far Away...

I had a three day weekend!

That's why I was virtually non-existent in the online world on Friday. With my work, I have a traveling holiday for President's Day. We wouldn't ordinarily take President's Day off but the stretch between Christmas and Memorial Day is a real long one... And my boss is nice!

So I ran errands all morning on Friday. I think I'm busier more on my days off than when I'm at work... Cleaned up the house and then packed for Meri and I. I picked her up from school a little early and we headed for my old stomping grounds in western Iowa.

Remember I mentioned my enormous packs of nieces and nephews? One such larger pack lives there and just got a new addition last week! I got to meet my new niece Stevie. She is adorable!! And as luck would have it, I left my camera in the car and drove to the baptism with my sister. I used her camera but her son hasn't posted the pics yet on Facebook... Or I'd share.This is the one that I made the baptism gown for. It fit her perfectly! She weighed 9 lbs 6 oz when born, so I was a little anxious... But it fit as if I'd made it just for her...

Which, of course I had.

Once we got to their house I didn't see Meri again until the next morning. Off she went with one of her closest cousins and they camped out in the basement. I slept in the living room on a big cushion and woke up at 2:30am when I thought I heard my cell phone vibrate. Awaking in a panic, I thought that maybe I hadn't turned the sound up from during church. But in checking it I had. I don't know what exactly woke me up, but then I couldn't get back to sleep.

I'm reaching the age when suddenly I get very overheated at the drop of hat. It lasted a good long time and then I just lay and thought about all the things going on in my life and the lives of my loved ones that are having issues.

Being back in my home town brought it all that much closer. A three hour buffer is usually pretty good, but the issues are bigger and badder than ever before. Yep - my life is a saga and with each episode in the drama that is my life, people get pushed and pulled farther and farther apart.

I am determined not to let that affect me and my relationships with my parents, siblings and their children.

So yep... I thought about everything in the middle of the night, which was really a bad time to do it because I had to drive 4 hours the next morning early... Finally at 5:15am, when my alarm on my cell phone went off for real. I was supposed to call Maddy and wake her up for a jazz competition - otherwise I would have set it for 6. I discovered that there was no way I was going to go back to sleep. So I flipped on the basement light to wake up Meri. Unfortunately making her cousin emit hissing sounds as if she was going to evaporate in the bright light.. so I switched it off as soon as Meri made it to the stairs.We hit the road and drove to a town closer to home so we could enjoy Maddy's jazz competition. Stayed for the 20 minutes that they played (they won 1st place for their division!), and headed out. I didn't even say hello to any of the other parents. No make up on, my eyes are puffy and red. Meri didn't even sugar coat things and say I'm a natural beauty. Nope, she said, "Mom, you look really tired!" That translates to terrible.After leaving the jazz competition, we met up with a friend of Meri's who was getting her ears pierced and needed Meri so she could have some moral support during the procedure. (ceremony, ritual, whatever it's called). Then home to nap.

While I was in my hometown I tried the sample confirmation dress on my niece, the hissing one. So after I awoke from napping, I cut it out making only a few minor modifications. It fit her so nicely except at the shoulders and just a smidge short.

Since then I've made great progress! Just need to put in the zipper, sleeves and hem and it'll be done!Then on to the prom dress... In the next episode of Days Of McVal's Dreary Life, I'll tell you about my shopping trip on Sunday with Maddy to pick out prom dress fabric...