A Little Grumpy this Friday Morn

1. Even though there is school today, we're on a 2 hour delayed schedule, which means Miranda stays home (no preschool). Which makes it the third day in row I've been home with Miranda. And I need a break from her. She's hasn't slept through the night in I can't remember how long, which means I haven't slept, which means I now have a cold. Hence the grumpitude. I'm trying to think of decent ways to torment her today, like making her help me clean her room. What I should do is make her more banana muffins (like I've been planning to do for days but kept running out of energy) and let her play in the bath for an extended period of time (which makes all her sensory issues happy). Maybe we'll do all three. After I have some tea and put Alex on the bus about 10:30 am.

2. If you hadn't heard (HA!), it snowed here again on Wednesday. A whole foot's worth. So there was no school yesterday and Marshall stayed in a hotel across the street from his office courtesy of his employer Wednesday night so he wouldn't have to fight his way home that night and fight his way back to the office yesterday morning. Which left me with the shoveling, something, on a usual day, my husband graciously does on his own and without complaint. My arms are still sore this morning, but after I dug a minimal path through the driveway, our neighbor came over and finished it up with his snow blower. God bless Gary!

Alex came out to "help" me shovel during the first round (and he did actually help some) but he also had a great time playing in the snow. Here is my darling boy, getting happily soaked through all of his layers:

If you want to see all of yesterday's pictures, you can find them here. 

3. I haven't had a tremendous amount of energy to stitch this week and Page 8 of White Lilies on Red has been a beast, but I finally got some traction on it Wednesday night and came close last night to finishing it. By my calculations, I've reached the half-way point, which is a good feeling. :)

Of course, since I started it Thanksgiving of 2009, I probably have about a year's worth of stitching left to do. Or maybe not. The second half could go faster. :)

4. If you missed the story on Facebook, on Wednesday, Miranda managed to lock herself in my bedroom and then get stuck in our powder room (sometimes the door jams). And, being a foolish woman, I keep the keys that open all the interior doors in my dresser, so I had no way to get in and Miranda was too upset to get herself out. So I went around outside with a chair and climbed in through our bedroom window (which we leave unlocked because this has happened before) and have some impressive technicolor bruises on my legs from the windowsill for my efforts. But I was able to rescue my girl, and she promised not to lock my bedroom door again. Maybe if I'm smart, I'll find a better place to hide the keys!

5. Alex's current obsession is The Sorcerer's Apprentice, both the book released by Disney in 1974, and the music video from Fantasia. He earned the book this week with his consistent good behavior, which made him a very happy boy, but I swear everyone in the house knows every note of the piece. I keep telling myself to be grateful, though; I mean, he could be obsessed with Beyonce. :)

6. I finally finished watching Buffy's Season 4. I'm not sure I will go back and finish Season 2. Too much heartache. What I would like to do is go out and see The Green Hornet. It will be nice and fluffy and empty of any heartache. Too much of my life is high maintenance, so I need my entertainment to be mostly brainless.

7.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, inform me that you are claiming one of my few remaining copies.

And here's Jen.