Or, my mother arrives tomorrow!
1. Yes, I am a little excited! It's always wonderful to have her here to help with the kids or do fun things with or TALK all day long.
Is the house ready for a guest? HA! Marshall has made tremendous progress on the bookshelves this week and so we might, sometime next week, be able to actually use them as bookshelves and unload the old ones and deliver them to his parents' house and then move and plug in the television again. But not tonight. So, the living room, which will be her bedroom at night, is still a workroom. Oh, well. Life is not perfect. And with special needs kids, it's not even ideal. But we will manage.
2. Tomorrow, I will be a soccer mom! That is, at 9 am, Miranda and I will leave the house to go to her first soccer team meeting. They provide the uniforms but I will probably, later next week, want to get shin guards and cleats for her. Not sure yet. This will be a new experience for both of us. Yikes!
3. I finally managed to finish page 12 and start page 13 of White Lilies on Red, in the midst of an exhausting week.
I think I might actually be happy when I get back to working on Celestial Dragon. And you thought I was crazy before!
After I finish these two major works (larger and more complex than anything I have attempted before), I'm going to go back to something small and easy, John Clayton's Connections: Calla Lily, Tulip, Day Lily and Iris, a set of 4 panels I've wanted to do for my bedroom for years. (The other 4 panels used to be done with blue backgrounds; I see he's recolored them the same reds and browns. Interesting.) I also love his International panels and have completed Greek Steps and Venice. The designs are brilliant and turn into beautiful works of art. And then there's the Dragon Dreams Virtues afghan I want to make....
But first I have to finish White Lilies on Red for my sister-in-law and then Celestial Dragon for my husband. That should take a few years, at minimum. Ah, but it's fun to look at other patterns again. Any serious cross stitcher has at least the next half-dozen projects planned with the patterns waiting in her filing cabinet.
******Insert half an hour spent dreaming and drooling over new patterns********
4. Tomorrow is going to be crazy. I'm taking Miranda to soccer while Marshall takes Alex to his swimming lesson. Then we come home, have lunch and switch: I'll take Alex to a birthday party at Sahara Sam's Oasis while Marshall and Miranda go to the airport to pick up my mother. At the end of the day, we'll be tired but happy.
5. I watched the opening episode of Series 5 of Lewis this week and it was like savoring a fine wine or walking through a blooming garden in spring. I looked over at my husband and said, "Why can't Americans make television that is this good?"
6. Part of my manic-ness this week is that my garden is alive and blooming and needs several hours of work put into it that I just haven't had, especially since Miranda was home from school Monday and Tuesday with a mysterious fever. I did manage to take 10 minutes yesterday and dig up a box full of canna bulbs for my sister-in-law (they reproduce like crazy) and now I need to find half an hour to hack up my hostas to give pieces to several friends. This is the fourth straight spring that I've had to trim back my hostas; otherwise, they'll try to take over the world.
I did indulge my compulsive nature over the weekend and dug up piles and piles of wild onions to go in the trash cans, not the compost heap. Those weeds seriously irritate me. Of course, since my back yard is mostly made up of different kids of weeds, you might wonder what the point of singling out one of them instead of just mowing the whole lot of them and calling it a yard? Well, some weeds are acceptable and some just aren't. And they really do stink when you mow them, anyway. Yuk.
7. My mother arrives in NJ tomorrow! So, if you are a local fan and are interested in talking to her about her new book, Bathsheba's Lament, you will soon have the opportunity to do so. It continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here. Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, inform me that you are claiming one of my few remaining copies.
Next week I should have more Longwood Gardens pictures for you as well as a movie update. I would really like to find the time to see Source Code with my husband this week.
Bonus 8. After catching one measly mouse last Friday morning, the traps have gone undisturbed for a week. But I'm leery of putting everything back in the cupboards if I'm just going to have to wash them all out again. Suggestions?
And here's Jen.
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