I Can't Feel My Toes

1. We've had a bit more snow here. It snowed most of Tuesday, in fact. Nearly 12 inches. So we've accumulated enough snow days to push VBS to the week of July 4th, which means we'll probably miss it to see our California family. Of course, each kid's been in school like 2.5 days this week, so they are happy.

2. I caught part of A Prairie Home Campanion from last Sunday and the skit called "The Secret Life of Lutherans" is funny enough to share. Yes, liking this show still makes me feel old. 40 is coming.

3. Myself and both kids spent time fighting a virus this week that manifested in a low grade fever and terrible headaches. The good news is, it moves on quickly. Still hoping it misses Marshall.

4. The good part about spending most of the week, hanging around with one sick kid or another, is that I got a lot of stitching done. Here's where I was 3 weeks ago:

Here's where I stopped last night:

And here's what I did this afternoon while watching the tennis final:

Here's what it will look like when completed. Day Lily from John Clayton's Connections:

I have officially passed the halfway point and it should go much faster from here on out because there are much fewer half-stitches and color changes than in the top half.

5. Last Friday one of the shelves in the pantry collapsed, reminding us that in the 13 years we've lived in this house, we've been using a make-shift set of shelves in there and they weren't particularly sturdy. So, Saturday morning Marshall went to Lowe's and purchased a very sturdy free-standing set of five shelves and I had the fun (with Miranda's help, of course) of taking everything out and reorganizing it into a new system. And, if at any moment, I dragged my feet, trying to put the food in some helpful order, she was right there to hurry me along. These new shelves are much deeper than the previous ones, though, which is great because it means the soup cans aren't so crowded they're always threatening to fall and squash your toes. That is, until you can't remember where you hid the cookies.

6. I recently downloaded Spades to my phone to pass the time (Plants vs. Zombies 2 is impossible to win unless to pay actual money for upgrades, which I refuse to do.) It was a game I spent many hours playing in college and I've come to understand what a poor player I was back then and why only one of my friends would partner with me. Thanks, Bub. You really were an amazing friend.

7. The Australian Open just finished and I am already sad. I skipped blogging last week because I was too busy watching hours and hours of Novak, Andy, Roger, Rafa, Stan and others. Thank you ESPNHD. I think I am a FedFan. It was so hard to watch him lose to Rafa in the Semi's. And, how cool is the Stanimal? So great to see Li Na and Stanislas Wawrinka win their first Grand Slams. Couldn't have happened to nicer players.

And here's Jen.