The Friday before Mother's Day, and I am living it up!

1. For example, I took a long, luxurious bath last night before the children were asleep! Or even really in bed! Miranda was officially ready for bed but had begun her regular half hour of whining before she falls asleep and I just left her in my husband's capable care.

2. I have been reading real books this week.

• On Sunday night, (with a stack of Borders' coupons) I bought myself a copy of The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Paton Walsh, who is continuing to write Lord Peter Wimsey stories, with the blessing of Dorothy Sayers' estate. And I stayed up until 1 am reading the whole thing!
• The new Rick Riordan book Throne of Fire arrived yesterday (because I'm a Borders' Rewards program member, they offered it to me on pre-order for more than 50% off, which is too hard to resist, especially when my library isn't able to buy new books like they used to) but I need to reread The Red Pyramid first so I'm not too confused. I did fine with the Percy Jackson books (which are awesome, by the way) because I am familiar with Greek mythology. Egyptian legends are a different matter and I'm going to need a refresher before I dive into the new book.
• I read another amazing book review by Walter Russel Mead about The Armada by Garrett Mattingly and had to order myself a copy. It came on Wednesday and I'm already 150 pages in. Mead is the one who turned me onto that massive tome on the Napoleaonic Wars I read last summer, War of Wars by Robert Harvey. Perhaps, if my life had gone in a different direction, I might have been a professional historian, because I find these kinds of books so much fun to read. Scary, I know.

3. I have been working outside a great deal, weeding and mowing and planning new plantings. In fact, when I told Miranda she couldn't help me in the garden on Monday because she didn't have gloves, she helpfully stole Alex's Halloween costume gloves and got "ready" to "help," wearing my hat, no less:

4. All of this explains why I am terribly behind on household chores and I think we've had one real dinner this week. Ah, well, I'll get all caught up by next week when my cleaning lady is scheduled to come through again, especially since....

5. Marshall is making so much progress on the bookshelves that I am planning to actually start shelving this weekend. Which would be wonderful since we have dispensed with all 6 of the bookshelves we are replacing with the built-in bookshelves to their new residences so my front room, instead of being crowded by furniture, now has stacks and stacks of books and photos and dvd's all over the floor. Nice, orderly stacks, but books need real shelves to live on and be rearranged on and be appreciated and drooled over. We love our books!

6. I finally made it to an easier portion of the cross stitch pattern this week so made some decent progress:

I'm starting to wonder, if I can keep up this pace, if I might have it finished in time to take with us on our California vacation in mid-August to present it in person to my sister-in-law, for whom I am stitching, and take it with her to the framer's so she can pick out the mattes and frame. Wishful thinking? Perhaps. Still, it would be very convenient.

7. I did go to see Fast Five on Saturday night and it was a lot of fun! Happy, brainless movie with Vin and the Rock, and it made enough money last weekend that they are going to make another sequel. Woohoo! Also, our sitter is coming tomorrow at 5:30 so we can go see Thor, which is also opening to good reviews. I love the summer movie season!

Bonus 8. My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, 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, you can purchase my last remaining copy of the book.


Extra Bonus 9. A few fun links I felt like sharing:

• May the Fourth Be With You which has posters of Star Wars puns. Very funny. 
• Existential Star Wars in French, from Jen Fulwiler's blog (see below).
• This is the shirt I want to buy (just not in pink!) to wear on the airplane when we travel to San Diego in August, all four of us together. We have not been on an airplane with both children since Miranda was 14 months old, for good reasons. But we miss our California family and decided to be brave this year. And take Valium. And pray, a lot.

And here's Jen.