If you think I'm

I was GOING to mow Meri's yard last night, but thankfully she said that she hadn't had a chance to pick up branches and twigs from her yard yet and she wasn't home.  She was out in a parking lot, social distancing and getting caught up with some friends she hadn't seen in over a month.

She said, "Let's get it done tomorrow!"

And I said okey dokey.  Fortunately for me, before too long, a rainy, blustery storm blew through.  I would have been riding home (maybe by that time) and been caught in it.

Unfortunately it's supposed to rain today too... So who knows?  

Maybe she can buy a goat.

I visited with my bestie, Ada, over lunch yesterday.  I have a lawn chair always in my car for such occasions and sat outside her nursing home window, with her on her speaker phone and got buzzed several times by a rogue wasp that must have a hive around there somewhere...  We had a great visit and I was loathe to leave but I wore long pants and was starting to over heat.  It got close to 80 yesterday!  

So I came home and changed to shorts and sandals.  I could live in weather like this easily!

If I dress for the part...

She is a member of our church too, that's where we met.  And since the current plague took over, she hasn't gotten to have our pastor come in to the home, nor able to hear any of the sermons.  Her hubs usually brings her the written sermon to read but he hasn't been able to come in either.

So since Robb records the sermons, he has all of them on his computer.  She has a dvd player in her room and the aides can run it for her, so he's going to burn them to dvds.  I called the home's policies on the best way to get them to her and got the info.  It'll be a 24 hour delay before she gets them, but with any luck, she'll have a service to watch on Sunday!

Robb has a bagpipe gig tonight!!!  He's playing on the lawn of a friend's dad, who turned 85 years old today.  The family and friends will be lining the street with their cars to help celebrate.  

It'll be as close to St Patrick's Day as we're going to get this year...

from several years ago.  Here's my little TIGER!

Robb got out his pipes and chanter last night to practice.  And while he'll be playing Scotland the Brave, Amazing Grace and of course Happy Birthday, he practiced with a tune that I didn't recognize right away.  

"What's THAT song?"  "You know it..."  "Please play it again."

It was "If you think I'm sexy" by Rod Stewart.

probably not appropriate for the birthday gig... ;)

Good Egg vs Batting Practice

So yesterday...  I decided enough was enough and emailed the person who had said the thing that alluded to other people talking about me.  I asked if I'd done something to make them angry enough to say that as it was hurtful as it dredged up lots of ugly memories of something I've been forgiven for for a LONG time.

And you know what???

That's not what they were talking about.  uggghhhhhhhh...  And my weekend mood was shot for nothing.  WHY didn't I say something on Friday??!  We had a VERY good talk and for the record, the typed word sounds very different when spoken aloud.

I guess I'm insecure at times.  I really need to practice putting the best construction on everything.

all the time.

when it would be prudent to.

Speaking of deciding whether someone is a good egg or a bad egg.  I found this egg frozen in a flower pot on Monday morning.  

Yep - the kids had missed this one.  They very well may have missed two unless someone ate one before hiding them and I wasn't aware of it. I'll find out when I do the spring clean up of the yard.

I posted a pic of it on FB and asked if I should let a dyed egg that has been frozen and exposed to the elements thaw out and be eaten...  Got a variety of intriguing responses.  

Anyone heard of fried frozen hard boiled eggs?

Is that a thing??

But what do you guys think?  

Oh.  I cleaned out the refrigerator last night.  Couldn't find anything when I needed it.  So THAT is why we have two open bottles of spicy mustard now...  And three jars of pickles.  I condensed them.

Someone couldn't find what they were looking for and went and opened another.  

Anyway, we went from a fridge that was so jam packed with birthday/Easter leftovers down to almost nothing.  hmmm...  It really SEEMED like we had more groceries than that!  But I kid.  this time.  There are still LOTS of food in our fridge, but at least now we can find things and every time I pull out the pickles, the bottom of the jar won't be sticky with syrup or some other viscous concoction that I'm too afraid to taste for confirmation.

As for that poor egg.  Two strikes.  You won't find it in OUR fridge.  It's been pitched.

It didn't even get a third strike...

Oh to be young and ...

Oh Saturday....  I guess my real stress started on Friday.  Meri texted me at 2:30 and asked if she could bring a few friends over after school to have a cooking competition in our kitchen.  

SHUURRRE...  

I always wanted to be the "koolaid" mom.  The house where the kids felt comfortable to bring their friends over and comfortable enough for me to get to know their friends.  If you know their friends, you know their friends and who they're hanging out with.

If you don't know their friends, you don't know their friends.  I can't stress that enough!  Because it can get scary, especially when your kid starts doing things that are questionable. And then you're kicking yourself for NOT knowing who their friends are.

So with that in mind, who was I to say no?  However, the house looked terrible.  I had been planning on spending most of the day Saturday, leisurely cleaning, vacuuming, ridding the house of dog hair, etc before Meri and a ton of her friends came over for pictures.  

Instead, I was able to jam pack it all into an hour!

Of course, at the end of the hour, I was exhausted. My feet hurt.  My face was all red from over exertion, my hair a mess and my shirt reeked of sweat.  I had worked hard!  And the place looked it.

In fact one of her friends walked in and hadn't seen it THIS picked up before.  Wow...

shut up.

There were 2 girls besides Meri and a boy, who had announced that he'd just time them as well as judge who won.  So the girls got to work.  They scrounged through my fridge and cabinets looking for the ingredients to make a chicken dish and an appetizer.

Leon came home about the time they started and got in on the action too, by making a bowlful of blue food coloring in apple juice with Oreo-o cereal and expired lettuce on top.  He soon lost interest when it didn't taste as he'd expected and went off to play.

SOME of the food was edible that they made and some, well, let's just say, they would have gotten yelled at if it were that angry chef guy with the crazy hair.  I can't think of his name.

Leftover pizza bread chunks and powdered cheese from a mac and cheese pack in a salad...  

eww.

But they had a blast and posted all their food creations on Snapchat or Instagram or somewhere else I can't get my hands on them.

That night, since Robb was out of town for the weekend, I took Leon to his mom's, traded cars with one of the kids, and then just crashed.  I'd been hoping to get some sewing in but it didn't happen.

Saturday...  Since I'd just gotten my van back!!!!  I'm so excited!!!  I decided to get rid of some of the garbage that had been piling up in our garage.  I COULD have taken it in the pick up, but without the right tarps and straps, that's a pain, plus 2.5 times as expensive as loading up the van instead.  So I took two loads down to the waste reclamation center.  I AM powering the electricity in that city for a whole day with just MY garbage!  At least that's why I tell myself.

THEN since we only had  one key left that worked for my mini-van, I went to a Ford dealership, willing to fork over almost $250 for a new programmed key.  We REALLY needed a fob that worked!  And I decided that I'd let them do the turn signal and a new gas cap.  While the lady was typing in my order, she said, "OOH!  Give my a high five!!! You have a recall for a new ignition system on this van!!"

I didn't know what that meant, but she told me.  That meant a new ignition plus two free programmed keys!  SCORE...

So I got out of there a little while later for less than $100!

I had sat in their lobby binge watching Netflix on their wi-fi but was shocked when I got in the van afterwards and found that it was already 12:45.  YIKES!!!  I needed to be at Ada's for a surprise birthday party at 2 and still wanted to get a shower in!  I rushed home, eating some fast food on the way.   Jumped into the shower as soon as I got here and then scrambled to get dressed.  I then looked at the clock in my bedroom and it said 12:30...  

huh?  

sigh.  Apparently the mini-van's clock didn't get turned back at the last time change.  So I was a whole hour ahead of schedule and my hair had a chance to dry while I got back into my binge watching.

The surprise party was a blast and a total success!  I asked an aide to go in and shut her shades.  She told Ada that their maintenance guys would be working just outside her window for an excuse so she wouldn't see people she knew from church walk past her window. 

Then when everyone (except her husband, who didn't think men were coming too) was ready, I asked the aide to bring her out.  Give her the excuse that they were going to fumigate her room.  HA!  She bought it and they brought her out.  

Oh my was she surprised!  She even teared up a little!  Someone had brought ice cream, another had brought all the paper products, lots of gifts.  So much fun!  Mike even made it, albeit 45 minutes late.

Then I excused myself and got home to get some last minute tidying done before the kids all showed up for pictures.  And to binge watch JUST a little more.  I was almost done with that series and really wanted to wrap it up and be done.

So people started showing up and since 80% of them were freshmen, so did their parents.  I'm glad I'd done the housework on Friday!  God has a way of just making things work the way it needs to.

Here is Meri in all her beauty.  and the pose that we were taught by my sewing group. 

AND another pose so Meri could show off that it has pockets!  This is the dress that we bought off Amazon.  We love Amazon!

 

A few people, including Meri's date, had to drop out.  Her's with the flu.  Yeah - STAY away for a few days!

So with only one young man in the group, he was surrounded by a bevy of beauties and he didn't quite know how to behave or how to pose.

So they improvised.

Then the obligatory stairs shot.

 And upstairs shot.

 Two other seniors had to drop out of the group, due to one getting some tickets to a game and another just got the times wrong, so Meri was the only one who could drive...  They'd been planning to go out to dinner and THEN to the dance.  So I offered to be a chauffeur. 

What ELSE was I going to do???  Binge watch?  Sew?!  Probably a little of both.  

I got 4 freshmen girls in my car and met up with Meri in a nearby town where all the good restaurants were.  Dropped them off and went to Hobby Lobby for a bit.  Went back and took the same gaggle of girls to Target to walk around for an hour.  I didn't relish being part of that gaggle so I parked in front of my cell phone store and found that they had a guest wi-fi active even after they closed for the day!  WOOHOO!  I finished the series that I was watching while I ate my dinner in the car.

Got the girls picked back up and took them back to the high school.  It's a twenty-ish minute drive and I learned more about these girls that I'd ever wanted to.  PLUS they know all the words to a very suggestive country song and sang along...  There was some other conversations that flew around the car and I found we were all on the same moral ground on a few issues, so THAT was reassuring!  I remembered singing all of 65 Love Affair with SUCH gusto, with my uncle in the car and getting reprimanded afterwards.  So I guess I could relate to the girls.  It was just words to me at that age and I didn't really understand what it was all about.  I forgive them and I didn't say anything.

I did actually get some sewing in on Sunday!  and Meri is loving how the dress is fitting and looking so far!  Whew!  I'm on the right track for Belle.

So anyway.  It wasn't my birthday but every day, I'm getting older and wiser.  And yes, that implies correctly that I also young and stupid once.  

Like Friday.

No More Diversions Left...

I got the temporary adjustments done on the pink Victorian dress for Brooke.  I'll mail that off today if I can.  I used some iron in tape to take the hem up two inches.  She's only wearing it once...  Who knows?  Maybe Maddy will want it back someday for Halloween!  

Oh and I took up the sleeves about 4- 5 inches.  Whilst Brooke IS getting taller, her arms have not caught up yet.  I can only hope Kristin measured her arms correctly... ;)

Before

After...

Does it look better?  Definitely shorter sleeves!

Then last night I also had an hour free, so I cut out the Belle skirt and gathered the waist line.  I'll sew that into place today over lunch.

Here's what I'm planning for the Belle dress.  It's basically a denim bustier vest thing and I'm going to sew the skirt waist to it.  Otherwise if she bends over, the blouse will untuck and she'll have to keep adjusting the vest.  Don't want that.  So the side zipper of the vest will also blend in with the skirt and she'll be able to take it off in one fell swoop for quick costume changes.  

Hopefully.  At least that's my plan.  So...

Sew...  More on that later.

I've got brownies in the oven to celebrate Ada's birthday this evening and a L. Frank Baum biography to wrap up for her.  Not sure if I ever told you, she is a HUGE Wizard of Oz fan!  as well as the color of purple( I hope I have some purple stuff in my wrapping paper box) AND she loves to read famous people's biographies.  She was a teacher, so she's a history buff, so mostly past presidents and historical figures, but as I mentioned, she does love WOZ...  So I just hope she hasn't read this particular biography yet.  She doesn't use the internet so I feel comfortable telling you all this here.

Who are YOU going to tell?

Anyway, back to work.  Percolating percolating...

Adeste Fideles

It's coming up on the Christmas weekend.  The sewing that I wanted to do yesterday made a TEENY bit of progress, but didn't get much further than that.  

It'll get done if I have to stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve...  (poor Robb - my sewing room is also our bedroom) BUT then again, who knows when my family is going to celebrate Christmas gift opening, so I might have until NEXT Thursday!

Four projects left, but two are being done at the same time since they're identical.

The Christmas letter is done and I haven't gotten the pic ready yet.  If you're on our letter list, you'll get it next week some time...  I'll pick up stamps tomorrow.

We had a scare last night.  As I was driving home from the Advent service, we passed the home of one of Meri's best friends.  Two ambulances had just driven into their yard.  So I called Meri and told her.  She quickly called her friend to find out what's up.  

As we drove up our driveway, Meri was running to the car.  Apparently the mom was being rushed to the hospital and her friend was home with the younger siblings and frantic.  So Meri went to help out and help calm Perla down.  They made dinner for the younglings and then the girls worked on studying for finals for a bit.  I'm glad Meri was able to help out a little.  We'll work on some lasagnas for her to take over to them today.

So.  Prayer requests: Perla's mom and my mom.  I don't know Perla's mother's issues, but I do know my own mothers.  And thankfully God knows all of it.  Just keep them in your prayers.  thx.

Best place to make a best friend

 So Leon and I stopped by the pub before running him to his mom's on Friday.  He wanted to say goodbye to his dad for the weekend.  

We sat at the bar and got some ice water and breaded mushrooms.  

yay!  the mushrooms are all for me!!

A family with a little boy arrived and sat at a table nearby.  "Hey, Leon." says his dad, "that little boy loves FGTeeV and Minecraft too."  Apparently they were regulars at the pub and Ryan, being a good bartender, had chatted them up previously.  The mom let Joe sit next to Leon at the bar and they hit it off in a big way.  

Talking about their favorite episodes of FGTeeV and various characters from Minecraft.

It was a tug at your heartstrings kind of visit.  I sat there laughing and clutching my heart while they talked so animatedly about Youtube and other things they loved.  

We've GOT to get these two set up for a play date...

I ran outside to grab my camera and then realized I'd forgotten to put the SD card back in it, so no good for me.  I asked the mom to take pics and she posted them on FB.

Unfortunately we missed the boys hugging goodbye.  *gasp*  It was SO CUTE!

Ryan told me later that Joe's mom said that his wife had asked that she take pictures...

really??  Um... that was my mom...

How young do I look?  or rather, how old does HE look?

Someday, Leon will tell his kids that he met his best friend in a pub, when they were five.

Bus Stop Blues

Anyone remember that song, Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say, Please share my umbrella.

A friend of mine got that mix tape from her husband when they first started dating.

So romantic... :)

I got a mix tape from a former boyfriend with a song performed by the Monkees...

Valerie

While SOMEWHAT romantic, that little romance fizzled out quick.  I happen to think he had LOTS of mix tapes with various women's names on them for such occasions.

I took Leon to the bus stop this morning and a little boy, his sister and grandma in jams walked over to wait with us.  Second day in a row.  Leon was thrilled until the little boy didn't want to do the same game they played yesterday, putting their hands on the cold street sign pole to see who took their hands off first.  So Leon got all quiet and fake weepy.  They both got over it by the time the bus came along. Yeah - two minutes later.

boys...

These photos are from Leon and my "Adventure walk" the other day.  In the above picture, this was JUST before I sat on the other side of this seesaw and almost catapulted him across the playground.  Seriously... I'm at least 3 times heavier than he is...  My butt was on the gravel...

But anyway, the bus stop friend reminded me of the many times I waited at the end of our driveway for the bus as a kid.  The neighbor girl would come over and wait with me most days whether I wanted her to or not.  Some times she was my best friend, other times not. 

In fifth grade, she and I worked out a dance routine to the tune of Hitchin' a Ride and performed it in front of the class...  Little did I realize, that talent scouts were not recruiting from Mrs. Barrow's class room that day.  And just because you and she could do the circle hands moves in perfect  synchronous motions, did not mean you'd hit the big time.  or become popular.  

I guess I was kind of a shy weirdo...

Leave me alone, I'd rather draw. or write. or sew.

I met up with Suzy on Facebook a few years back and she is just as zany now as she was then.  I must have posted or said something to upset her, because she dropped me as a FB friend a year or so later.

Wouldn't be the first time....

Anyway, where was I going with this?  Oh yeah, I've been there!  That little boy will be the worst/best friend of Leon's young life.  

We all need at least one of those.

I've had two! or more...

Sew It's a New Girl & Makeovers

A new girl moved to town this year and Meri had her over last night for a little while.  They're working on an FCS (Family and Consumer Science) (aka Home Ec) class project together.  After school yesterday, Meri went to her house and they did a makeover on Gracie's bedroom.  Then after work, they came over here and did a makeover on Meri's bedroom. 

So far, I've only seen the before and after photos of Meri's room, but am looking forward to checking it out in full this evening.  The photos look like a magazine spread.  SO neat!  They'll be putting together a presentation of before, during and after for the class.


Um... Maddy doesn't have a bed in there currently...  And she's coming home tonight...  and staying over until early tomorrow. 

Don't know how this will play out... :)

Gracie was very nice and we find out that she's a Walking Dead head too!  She AND her mom!  She's looking forward to doing some LARPing with Meri and her friends soon.

I think she's going to be around a lot this year.

I also told Meri to make this project into a 4H project for next year too.  She's always talking about doing a makeover bedroom project and now that it's done and documented, go for it! 

Sorry I didn't get pictures!  I'll have Meri send me some later.

Have an awesome weekend!  I plan to get some sewing in!

Friendships are the BEST!

Have you ever been spanked in public?  I think it's against the law now, even in private...  But boy oh boy, it set me straight!

Oh and I'm not talking about my mom!  Although she spanked me when I deserved it too..  This was my best friends mother and I was probably 4 or 5.  I'd embarrassed her really bad at the grocery store by being extremely rude to someone.  I so totally deserved it!  I'm not going to tell you what I did, because I'm really ashamed of my behavior that day...

And that best friend is still a good friend, even though we don't see each other very often.  She still lives in my hometown and I make a point to stop in where she works when I'm there to say hi.

Her name is Val too.  But back then we were both Valeries.  Her 6 siblings were roughly the same ages as my 6 siblings so our families got together a lot and everyone had someone to hang out with.  All the girls in that family had names starting with Vs and the boys all had names starting with Ws. 

We stayed overnight at each others houses fairly often and in the middle of the night, I'd wake up in their living room in my sleeping bag confused.  They had a tiny trap door in the ceiling of the room and I'd lay there for a few minutes wondering where I was and why I was sleeping on the ceiling...  Kind of an Alice in Wonderland type feeling...

These were the friends who we helped dig an illegal swimming pool in their front yard.  I think I posted about that once upon a time.  Yep - found it. HERE

One of Val's brothers had the bounciest bed upstairs and when the brothers weren't home, she and I would literally bounce off the slanted ceiling of that room.  SO FUN!

As the years went by, her dad got sick and he had to sleep on a hospital bed in the living room so I didn't sleep over much anymore.  The first Christmas eve program after his death was really hard on all those kids and all the girls of that family sobbed throughout the whole service.

They moved a few years after that and didn't live next to the abandoned mink farm anymore.  Which was a bummer because the property there was so fun to explore.  But they were still in town and within a block of a store that had candy!  So different than living down a paved road or a gravel road 3 miles from any where, like where I lived. 

As we got into middle and high school, our friendship sort of waned, if that's the right word...  They didn't go to church with us anymore and I had started school at our church school.  We each had new sets of friends. 

But whenever I see her, she gives me the firmest hug as if we're still the besties we used to be.  Laughing and talking as if we'd seen each other yesterday and just carrying on the same conversations.  We're friends on FB nowadays too so it's a little easier to keep up on what she's up to and I can show off pics of my grandson to her whenever I want!

A friend loves at all times. Proverbs 17:17

If THEY'RE going to dress up, so are we!

On Saturday night, Meri had a friend stay overnight so she wouldn't be all alone while all the company was here. As soon as Maddy and her friends left for the Sweetheart ball, Meri and Veronika came into the kitchen with all the parents still milling around dressed to the hilt!Whenever Meri sees a gown type thing at a garage sale or on Freecycle, she collects them... And boy oh boy, they fit her! She's getting ready for prom at age 11. or even a wedding!

*like I'd LET her get married so young!* *um nope.*

Someone on Freecycle was giving away a bunch of wedding gowns that they had planned to use for some photography project they were working on but never got to. I didn't want to appear greedy, so we only got two. I've used the tiny seed pearls from the back train on one of them for those covered bead necklaces that I made before Christmas.Meri plans to die one of them a green, but crop it off to a shorter dress and wear it for fancy wear. I'm afraid of what it will die the pearls...

Can you believe that girls this age were getting married once upon a time?! YIKES!

Contact of the surprising kind.

When I was a freshman in high school, I used to work at a little nursing home where 2 sisters and a SIL worked. I worked in the kitchen and they were nurses aides. I made a wonderful friend in the kitchen and as well as working together she and I hung out a lot! She was always so perky and cheerful that she always brightened my day. Lori coined the phrase, "You belong in an insane-u-liar!" and I use it to this day. Don't ask me what it means, because I don't know...

She was a bit older than me and was undecided on what she wanted to do with her life after high school so she joined the Navy and became a nurse.These pics were from 1983 her last day at work, so that's why I look like I've been crying...

We wrote each other pretty often. She would address the letters to "My dearest Valentino". Pretty quirky, that one! She was like a sister and I loved her. And then the letters got fewer and fewer as she and I got busier and busier with our lives. As things happen, we lost touch. My sister RuthAnn talked with her once or twice, but gradually they lost touch too. So a few months ago, I happened to stumble on an old high school friend of Ruth Anns and she was so impressed with my stalkerish qualities detective work that she challenged me to find Lori. I already had been trying for some time off and on, but took the challenge anyway. Whenever I had a few minutes to spare I would search the internet for her maiden name and her married name. Dead ends. I emailed a few people that I thought were related to her, but no good. They never emailed back.

Finally found a young man on Facebook with exactly the same four names as her husband. He was much younger, perhaps 20 years old or so. And lived in an area that I hadn't imagined her living. I thought she was way out east and didn't think that she could only be living a few short hours away. So I sent him a message through Facebook and explained how I knew Lori. When I checked my emails yesterday morning, I was surprised to hear from him! Yes, Lori was his mom and he sent me her phone number. He would tell her to expect my call!

Wow...

Yesterday afternoon was kind of quiet, so I called Lori, my old friend. It was such a blast to hear her voice and laugh again! We talked for over 2 hours! Meri kept coming in and giving me a stinky eye like, "HOW can you still be on the phone?! I need to talk to you!". At least that's how I translated it. She wasn't bleeding, so I shooed her away.

After 4 or 5 more of those, I finally had to bring the conversation to a close. My cell phone had already died once during the call from battery loss, so maybe that was a sign too. I do so love the internet and how it brings old friends back together again!

Scattered Thoughts and Beware Of The Sheep.

I may have scared some people with my Taekwondo bit yesterday... Sorry! I'm really not THAT dangerous... And doesn't training teach you self control?
And for the folks that want to hire me to rough some people up... I'm available on Thursday and will email you a quote. :)

It's *another* rainy day and the dogs are either out in it or in their kennels. I will NOT rent another Rug Doctor so soon! I'm beginning to think it's muddy dogs that up my blood pressure...

Going to a nephews confirmation this weekend and so looking forward to seeing my parents and some sisters and brother. Well - not sure if I'll see the brother, but I'll wave to his general direction of town if we can't get together.

My home town was dissed by Tosh.0... Click HERE to see why.

Seems like every minute is planned for the next few days...

Got some flowers from my best friend on Monday! What a surprise! BTW: Her husband is home from his overnight at the hospital and is doing great. Turns out he may have caught the triple dose of bacteria from some sheep. Silly sheep... they gave him ORF last year!

So anyway, beware the moors.. sheep.

A little cappuccino in my hand...

Sing it with me now!!!

It's been an odd week. My best friends husband suddenly got so sick that he (yes HE) suggested that he go to the doctor yesterday. His brother drove him to the emergency room and he had to stay over night in the hospital because he was so dehydrated. It is unknown at this time what caused the illness. The doctors think food poisoning of some kind and should be able to localize the bacteria today. We hope and pray he gets to come home today!

I spent the evening with my friend and stayed over last night so she wouldn't have to be alone. She's in a wheelchair with MS and a few other things.

I used to work in a couple different nursing homes. For a few years in the kitchen of one, then briefly as a nurses aide, but quit as soon as I got certified... It was extremely hard work and my young college body decided it would rather sell shoes.In front of the nursing home where I worked in the kitchen. What a fun first real job that was!

Do you ever wonder though why God puts you in a job that you didn't really care for? I think it was to prepare me for the future, for a time such as this. God is smart!
Talk about an understatement!

I guess I had learned a lot from that job except how to make coffee. I don't drink coffee and guessed on how much to put in la machine... Hopefully, even after I made the stuff way too strong this morning... She'll let me come back out at lunch and we're still good friends.

I'll stick with cappuccino!

Scrambling....

Meri was invited to a birthday party! She got the invite yesterday and it's for today... Since I had NO time to get to the store between last night at 8:30 and this morning, she and I dug through our gift stash box.Meri and Claire - on again, off again friends since preschool

I keep a box of gifts to use for Christmas or random occasions in my office. After a holiday, if I remember, I go online and check out Target, KMart, JCPenneys, Sears, etc and check out their clearance page. Sometimes you can find awesome deals for just a minute fraction of the original cost. Especially in seasonal clothes!

This past year I found something that I thought maybe a nephew would want. It's so cool. When I pulled it out of the box, Meri said, "Can I play with that tonight?" I knew it would be a hit for her friend's gift!

So ok! Her tomboyish friend is getting a Rockem Sockem Robot game!

Saturday - FOOD FOOD FOOD! and some pain...

My Saturday consisted of tons of expensive, delicious food! I attended a Lady's Day Out with a couple of other ladies from my church. I drove. We met up with several other ladies from sister churches in Pella at a tea room for lunch.

This place was adorable!!! The upstairs bedrooms displayed tons of cute things. I should have brought my camera! I purchased the tea room cookbook and an ivy metal triple plate rack. It'll look great on my dining room wall when I get up enough courage to stick a couple screws in the drywall...

Lunch consisted of a variety of six different main courses. I chose the baked chicken casserole with strawberry soup. With a side of dutch pastry sample and a sample of gouda cheese/bacon/pimento(?). I had the BEST Lemonade. I've had lots of lemonades in my life, but this was kind of creamy even tho there wasn't cream in it. Is that possible? YUM.

Stressed spelled backwards is DESSERTS! So I splurged and got a mint/white chocolate cheesecake that was destined to put me in a sugar coma for the almost 2 hour drive home. This meal cost me roughly $21. Whew! But how often do you get a day out with the girls!??! Grown ups, I mean!

When I got home, Meri insisted that I take her swimming. In the town pool, I discovered my back was so achy and stiff. I'm sure it's from the driving... She fetched pool rings in the deep end while I just did the tossing from the pool edge for about 45 minutes until the next adult swim before we could leave. Then I napped on the couch. That can't have done anything good for it...

I've made an appointment with my chiropractor this afternoon. I'm still extremely achy but it's a little better today.

I've been doing some sewing and will try and take some pictures to show you. I got the first top ready for the fair, but I think I'm going to do it a second time. I kind of screwed up on the side vents...

Attitude of Graditude Award

Thank you Liz for the aware of "Attitude of Graditude"! I hope I did this right!

The Rules of Accepting and Sharing this Award

1.Put the logo on your blog or post

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs that show an attitude of gratitude

3. Link to your nominees within your post

4.Comment on their blogs to let them know they've received this award

5.Share the love and link to this post and the person who nominated you for the award.

Tell us how you've come to have an attitude of gratitude

I am grateful for my wonderful, funny, thoughtful husband and three great kids. Each of them are unique in their own special ways that can bring laughter to my heart and tears to my eyes.

I'm sorry - but I'm not grateful for our dogs... They got into mud last night...

I'm grateful that God sent his only Son to live a perfect life on earth for us.

I'm grateful that my carpal tunnel pinky is getting better and I'm able to type with my ring finger again. Pinky is still down for the count.

I'm grateful for all the great friends I've made on blogging. You guys are great and you keep me wondering what you'll all write next. I look forward to your notes every day!

I'm grateful that Kim introduced me to blogspot.

I would like to bestow this award to... Kim, Ciara, Pam, Karen, Texan Mama, Jody, Josie, Omega,Whitestone & Gorgeous Things.

Thanks ladies! I love reading about your lives and challenges! Be it kids, sewing or just anything!

Sibling friendship...

It used to be, when there was just Ryan and Maddy, they were pretty close. They'd play together and sometimes Ryan would be a jerk and make his sister cry. But for the most part, they were pretty nice to each other. Then Meri was born.

As the three grew older, Ryan became Meri's bestest buddy. They really enjoyed being around each other. Maddy was still right there and played with Meri a lot, but things were closer between my oldest and youngest for a while.

Now that Ryan is becoming more grown up and trustworthy and Maddy is more independent, those two go a lot of places together and actually enjoy each other's company again. Ryan went thru a phase where he refused to be Meri's bestest buddy and they grew apart a little. He kind of grew apart from all of us for a while... but he's matured a lot in this last year and enjoys time with all of his siblings and surprisingly, even with his aging parents! Mostly Maddy now, since they can go to PG 13 movies together. Meri feels a bit left out sometimes...

Maddy & Meri can get along, but only if they do NOT share a bedroom. And Meri stays out of Maddy's things. And Meri doesn't tick off Maddy. And Maddy doesn't say anything derogatory to Meri.. And Maddy doesn't tick off Meri.

Above is almost the whole clan of my family, with spouses and kids. Mom & Dad are in the middle. My kids attitudes kind of remind me of my childhood. With 8 kids, only 7 at that time, you were best friends with the one just older than you that had a car and still lived at home. It helped that they wore the same size clothes as you. Ruth Ann and I were closest (she's only a year older than me) for several years, then she up and got married within a month or so of my other sister, taking all their clothes with them. How dare they?!

So then I became very close to Melanie (4 years younger). We went everywhere together. After I got married and moved away, taking my clothes with me, Melanie grew closer to Kristin. Kind of strange how that works. But in a large family, it's pretty slick. Poor Kristin... There has to be a caboose somewhere, doesn't there?

Maddy played a Five for Fighting song for the 4H Share the Fun show last summer. Ryan knew that she loved Five for Fighting, so he happened upon John Ondrosik's email address one day and wrote him. Ryan told him how much Maddy loved his songs and asked for a signed photo that he could give her for Christmas 2008. John was so moved that a brother could be so kind to a sister that he sent the piano sheet music (autographed) for Ryan to give to Maddy. He also sent the autographed photo. Ryan was so thrilled that when it came time for Maddy to open his present, he made sure that everyone stopped what they were doing and watch her face. She was so surprised! and Ryan got her John's latest CD to accompany the sheet music and photo. She's got it mastered now.


Below is the video of her performance at the 4H Share the Fun where she's playing 100 years by Five for Fighting.