Sleepy Friday

1. Three out of the last five nights/mornings, Miranda has been up at 4 am, hungry or crying or something, so it should not have surprised me that she woke up with a fever today. Poor little woozle. I have a call into the pediatrician's office, so I'm sure if there's anything seriously wrong with her, we will discover it.


Update: Dr. says that since all she has is a low-grade fever and no other symptoms, to keep an eye on her, treat with Tylenol per usual, and call back if she gets worse. Unlike Alex, who at the first sign of fever we rush to the doctor because it means he is really sick, Miranda can run fevers like this for a passing virus and be fine two days later. 


2. It's been a get back to normal week. My parents returned home on Easter Sunday, after a lovely but informal lunch hosted by my sister-in-law, so I've been re-adapting myself to household maintenance as an army of one. (Keeping up with mess generated by my children is so much easier when my mother shares the load!) Alex, Miranda and I joined friends at the park on Monday (being that it was Easter Monday, there was no school) and then both children returned to school on Tuesday and have received good reports from their teachers all week. I guess a week with their grandparents did them good; it was certainly a blessing to me!


3. I pushed doggedly forwards on my cross stitch this week, trying to make it past this complicated first half of page 13, although I have the feeling the bottom half of the page is going to be just as much fun (I haven't glanced at it yet). I did make enough progress in the last few evenings that I can see what it's supposed to look like and should be able to finish this section soon. Here's your progress picture:

The way the pattern creates the shimmer and outline of the vase is seriously not fun to stitch (I feel like I'm changing thread colors every 5 stitches), but the effect is quite stunning. 


4. Movie Update:

January 14

Green Hornet (never managed to see before it left theatres; dang.)

April 1

Source Code (Marshall and I were able to go out and see this while my parents were here and we really liked it. Not as amazing as Moon, but still very good.)

April 29
Fast Five (I am going by myself to see this tomorrow night; can't wait! Rotten Tomatoes has even given it an excellent rating.)

May 6
Thor (I have booked the babysitter--we are going next Saturday night! Early reviews are good so I am excited to see how Kenneth Branagh does a superhero movie.)

Anyway, here's my hopeful list for other upcoming films:

June 3
X-Men: First Class (It could be good, like X-2 was)
June 17
Green Lantern (Ryan Reynolds was very compelling in The Proposal so I want to give him a chance)
June 24
Cars 2 (Cars is my favorite Pixar Film so I have high hopes for the next one; it also may be the first movie our kids actually see in the theatre)
July 1
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (also has a new trailer out this week)
July 15
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (the new trailer is out and looks awesome!)
July 22
Captain America: The First Avenger (the trailer looks like a lot of fun)
July 29
Cowboys & Aliens (Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in a western with aliens and all the early buzz is good!)

November 11

Immortals (first trailer came out this week; starting to look interesting)

5. We recently got a hold of the audio versions of all of the Harry Potter books and are trying to make our way through them before the new movie comes out in July. I finished the first one last night while stitching and was surprised, once again, by how much I liked it and how suspenseful it was. I was also impressed by how well J.K. started to set up her story arcs from the very beginning. That is a woman who knows how to plan!


6. Doctor Who opened up Series 6 with a bang last Saturday night and left us hanging on several terrifying cliff-hangers, earning Steven Moffat the same reputation with me that his predecessor (Russel T Davies) had which leaves me muttering curses on them directly after the episode finishes. Often, they are good writers for this show, but the emotional directions they push the audience sometimes verges on manipulation, which I despise. And I hate it when they make me cry.


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, you can purchase my last remaining copy of the book.


Bonus 8. If you were unaware, I am a long-time fan of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I was even a contestant once (I dare you to find the audio clip!). I discovered this week that there is a guy who keeps a statistical page for this show. It's awesome, but, wow, that's an interesting hobby.


And here's Jen.

Good Friday

1. We have not have a particularly devout Holy Week. But I have been giving thanks to God daily that my parents are here to help keep my kids from falling apart as they have no school this week. They took Tuesday off from grandparent duty to go into the city and meet friends at the Philadelphia Art Museum and about 20 minutes after they left, Alex and Miranda were screaming at each other. So I have no doubt of the calming influence they have on the household. And I am grateful.

2. Yesterday, my mother and I took the children to the Adventure Aquarium and we did our quickie tour (both my kids do these sorts of things at a dead run) and my mother got some great pictures, including the one above that makes it look like the hippo is kissing Alex. I was really impressed by how far they have come in terms of following directions and staying together. Progress! You can see more pictures here.

3. Sunday afternoon a dear friend from high school who I've not seen in about 15 years brought her husband and dog to celebrate Palm Sunday dinner together and catch up on each other's lives. Their dog, Truman, was such a hit with my kids that the first words out of Miranda's mouth Monday morning were, "Where's Truman?"

After dinner, Alex and Miranda were playing outside and invited Truman to play with them.

We have officially joined the Truman fan club.

4. Marshall, with my father's assistance, has been making great progress on the bookshelves project. So much so, that on Monday, my mother and I decided to unload two of the large bookshelves that had been blocking the television into the corner so that we could plug it in again, along with the Wii that we retrieved from Marshall's sister's house (we share the unit between the two families). So the children have been enjoying hours with Nintendo (Alex is still a killer bowler) while my parents and I have been doing a mini-Lewis festival in the evenings.

In fact, in about an hour, the last of the 3 large book cases will be leaving the building, off to Marshall's parents' home, where they will be also well loved. Which means that the crowded front room I've been living in since October will be so strangely spacious. And I need to start thinking about how I'm going to be sorting all of our books. In previous months, I had threatened to organize them according to the Dewey Decimal system. We'll have to see. And, maybe, I can even get rid of a few.

5. Along with watching Lewis with my folks in the evenings, I have been doing a little bit of stitching. The page I'm working on is incredible difficult, so it's slow going. But here's a progress picture, anyway:

6. Marshall and I are going out tonight for dinner and a movie, finally taking an opportunity to go see Source Code. Let the summer movie extravaganza begin!

Early reviews for Thor are good. And Doctor Who Series 6 starts tomorrow! Woohoo!

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.


Jen has no new post today, taking the time off to be with her family. 

Friday Before Holy Week

1. I'm having difficulty believing that it is Friday already. My mother arrived safely last Saturday and the days have just been packed since then. I know I try to plan all kinds of fun things when she's here, as well as all kinds of useful cleaning projects (like going through all of Miranda's drawers and pulling out all the clothes that don't fit anymore) but I'm seriously disoriented. Friday, again, really?

2. So Miranda started her soccer program for kids with special needs last Saturday (each child is provided a buddy to help them follow the coach's instructions) and she did well for the first half and then she wanted to sit on the bench for a while with me. I think it's going to be an excellent challenge for her to listen, focus and follow directions. And she looks adorable in her uniform:

I really need to take her out to buy soccer shoes, though, so she doesn't slip and slide her way across the field in her sneakers. It was on the list of things to do this week and just didn't get done.

3. I missed the opening of spring at Longwood Gardens last year, what with one thing and another, so yesterday, my mother and I spend the morning and early afternoon enjoying the flowers and taking about 200 pictures. My photos are here; sometime this weekend we'll open a Smugmug account for my parents and get her pictures uploaded.

Here's a taste a few of my better pictures for you, though:

Have I mentioned before how much I like flowers? :)

I'm hoping to go back, in May, with a dear friend to enjoy the wisteria blooms, which I've only managed to see once before at Longwood. They are glorious!

4. I did make some progress on my cross stitch this week, but not a lot. Too many evenings where I was just exhausted from all the fun stuff we did all day. Like catching up on my weeding and trimming back my hostas. I still need to spread the corn gluten meal on the front yard to help with the proliferation of weeds. I'm sure Miranda can help me sprinkle it around; she's in the helping stage of childhood development. Sometimes it's useful, sometimes it's just downright annoying. Of course, my mother laughs and tells me I was much the same at this age.

Here's your progress picture:

5. One of my friends from high school who recently moved to the Delaware Valley is bringing her husband and dog to meet us and enjoy a nice dinner together with my family on Palm Sunday. Unfortunately for Miranda, her husband's name is Wolf and the dog's name is Truman. When we first mentioned them, she thought a wolf was coming to visit, and, as she told us gravely, she is afraid of wolves. So, we've been practicing with Miranda that Wolf is a person and Truman is a dog.

6. Marshall has been making tremendous progress on the bookshelves this week, so we honestly hope to have one of the built-in shelves up and ready for books early next week and the 3 large book cases currently taking up space in our front room moved over to his parents' house for their enjoyment. Hopefully, I'll have pictures for you next Friday!

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. 

Fifth Friday of Lent

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. 

Fourth Friday of Lent

Or, Good heavens! Easter is almost here!

1. I have been trying to write extended blog posts for 2 weeks now, without success. Every time I have a minute, something shiny walks by (this is the joke between my husband and I to describe the distractions, usually named Alex and Miranda, that prevent us from completing the task we had just set out to do) or I drop from exhaustion. Which means I'm just like every other mom I know. Still, I am going to endeavor to write up what's been percolating in my brain for a while. Which means there may be a few bonus numbers at the end.

2. I haven't managed to touch my cross stitch since Thursday of last week, so there's no point in taking a new picture. Maybe tonight. Tomorrow night we have a date night out at a fund-raising dinner for Delanco Camp at Brigalia's in Sicklerville. Even if the food is mediocre, the company should be excellent as it includes many of my friends from Youth Ministry at Hope.

3. My mother arrives in NJ in 8 days! 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.

The great thing about my mother's arrival is that we always heave a sigh of relief when she's here because we have back-up with the children and anything else that might arise. And my days aren't half as lonely because I have her to talk to all day. And dinners are a lot more fun to plan when you have someone to talk it over with. And I have someone to pray with. Life is just better when she's here!

My father will arrive the following Saturday and then they will leave together on Easter Sunday. I can't wait!

4. So I have difficulty finishing things. Television series, I mean. But last week, I took a deep breath and finally watched the last 3 episodes of Dollhouse. After watching "Getting Closer," ep. 2.11, I went out to where my husband was reading and said, "I hate Joss Whedon! Same as I hate RTD." Why, you wonder? Because they make me cry. Because I actually care when they kill off important characters or revisit old flames to say good-bye. 

Now Dollhouse wasn't as regularly brilliant as Buffy or Firefly, (I still maintain the second season of Buffy is some of the best television, ever.) But I still cared about the characters in the Dollhouse and while it had a flawed ending (they really needed another 5-6 episodes to make all the twists and turns really work) it was still more interesting (because it took actual risks) than most television produced these days. Of course, this means it was painful to watch, which is why I waited more than a year to watch the final 3 episodes. 

So much of the television I watch is insulating, a mere distraction from the difficulties of my life, something fluffy to pass the time, because most American television shows are "safe." You know all of the regular characters aren't going to be killed off or permanently maimed or encounter a situation that can't be reasonably resolved in a few episodes. Sometimes I take risks, like with Justified, but that's because its created by Graham Yost, who won my eternal respect with Boomtown. But watching these shows requires an emotional investment, a reserve that I really don't have much to spare these days. Which is why:

• I didn't watch the final two episodes of Veronica Mars until almost two years after they aired;
• I'm still struggling halfway through the first season of The Wire, the second season of Spooks, and only made it through the first two episodes of Luther;
• Still sitting on my DVR is the final episode of Life, broadcast April 9, 2009; and
• From this season I have the last episode of Human Target and the final two episodes of Lie to Me, because I'm afraid neither series will be renewed. There's also the last episodes of Fairly Legal and White Collar, that, even though I know these series were renewed, they are going to have story lines left hanging over their hiatuses that might upset me so I might as well wait to watch them until the new seasons start.

The good news is, Doctor Who starts back up on Easter Sunday, but since it's a show we watch together, Marshall and I have to schedule time to watch it. It's not like watching Mission: Impossible (we're almost finished with the second season) that you can watch with one eye and do something else while it runs.

I'm also the girl who took a whole year to read the last Harry Potter book, because I knew once I finished the last book, there would be no more Harry, ever. I mean, there's the movies and everything, but still, it's not the same. I enjoy all of Rick Riordan's young fiction and think his Percy Jackson books are a lot of fun, but it's light fare when compared to J.K. Rowling. Something is seriously wrong with me.

5. The HS retreat to Ocean City, MD, was a lot of fun and not much sleep was had, but I've come to expect that from hanging out with HS students. The worship band was Reilly and I loved their music. I bought 2 cd's for myself which was the first non-movie soundtrack or children's music purchase I can remember. Several hilarious games of Pass the Pig were played. The speakers were middling to good, the Illusionist Danny Ray was very good, but the time with my companions from Hope was the best part, as always.

6. The MOPS meeting this week was excellent, mostly because of the topic, "Bridging the Gap" between Parents of Special Needs and healthy children, is one close to my heart. My dear friend, Rachelan, shared some funny stories about her darling sons, and then we had an additional speaker whose experience with autism is so much more complicated than mine. Lord Jesus, have mercy on all of us and give us your grace for our struggling children. 

7. I treated myself to a massage this morning and I feel more relaxed than I can remember since my last vacation. I highly recommend With Heart & Healing Hands Therapeutic Massage for Women, for any local fan. Dawn is awesome!

Bonus 8. I have discovered how much I love my kitchen cabinets now that I have emptied half of them of them, stacked their contents in bins on the kitchen floor, and scrubbed out all the cabinets with bleach in order to set traps for mice! I discovered evidence of a mice infestation an hour before I left for the retreat last Friday, which meant Marshall did his best to deal with all the droppings while I was gone, but then Alex came down with strep throat early on Sunday morning and we were distracted in caring for him and catching up on sleep. Yesterday, we dug in: I finished up the cleaning and bleaching and moved the contents of the rest of the cabinets Marshall hadn't been able to get to and we set 4 traps with peanut butter. Marshall checked them all before he left the house this morning, and they were empty. But, then, when I started making breakfast for the kids at 7:15, I found a mouse struggling in the trap under the sink, because, you see, the trap doesn't kill the mouse, it simply "traps" the varmint. So, I put on gloves and put the wriggling mess, trap and all, into a ziploc bag so it would asphyxiate. Ewwww. Of course, it's still sitting under the sink like that. Marshall wants to keep the trap to reuse and I just don't have the desire to wrestle the corpse out myself. Like plunging toilets, that's what husbands are for!

And here's Jen.