Smooth Saturday

[Twins' Mom]

I ended up outside where I planted the pansies in the two planters by the front steps, and spread four bags of mulch that we bought a couple of weeks ago. We ended up going back to Lowes for more mulch and a more powerful blower for dh, and on to Petsmart where we got dog food for Macs. I just realized when I fed them that I should have gotten the other kind also, but will make a trip back early in the week.

[Ivy]

I took a 1/2-nap, had lunch, feel fine now. Am doing 2nd lol and DH vacuumed. Am reading on magazines and books today. Will do pen pal letters, to new gals, later today and this evening, too. I found a letter, with stickers, and cat calendar pages, I'd forgotten to slip into a pen pal's envelope for her down's syndrome daughter. I promptly made out a card, put them in, wrote her a note. She's going to feel very special, receiving a letter of her very own.

It's still sunny here and beautiful. I believe they said T-storms, heavy rains and winds for Tuesday. It doesn't seem like a Springtime day when that happens.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Nice afternoon/evening out. Young family from the church with a 2 and 6 year old.

My sister called almost as soon as we got home. She was crying because her life is falling apart. My sister can be difficult and choices she has made through her life are now causing her grave difficulty and she isn't willing to look for ways to overcome it. Won't go to counseling, won't move to hotel, can't come here unless I get her (and then she's stuck here because she doesn't drive.) She won't leave the dog behind so she can't take public forms of transportation. I suggested her friends who run a dog friendly B&B that is 2 hours closer to her than I am. Not sure it will work but it is worth a shot. Mostly, I think, she wanted to talk.

So that's my evening finished. I'll go hang up the laundry (which, thankfully, I had started before the call came in because I left it at the back door to remind me to start it the minute I get home.)

[lucylee]

CI:
[x] nap
[x] s2s
[x] talked to dmom
[x] talked to ds
[ ] computer work, backing up files and download pics to be printed
[x] reconcile checkbook.
[x] take van back to dmil and check on her -- dh spent an hour on phone w/cable company, w/some help from me
[ ] funeral home visitation (not happening)

WTG, helia's dd15!

I'm so sorry your sister is having such a rough time, Kathryn, and sorry for the stress it has to be causing you.

Ivy, I am really impressed with all the letter writing you do -- so few people do real letters anymore (including me, I have to admit). Sweet to include the daughter with a special note of her own.
Your spring/Easter decorations sound so cute, too. I don't decorate for seasonal stuff enough. I should do better, especially as dgs starts getting a little older.

Twins -- even w/a nap, I'm ready to go to bed now, too. As I told ds, we can party like it's 1989, but we can't recover like it's 1989, LOL.
* * * Oh -- and just in case anyone is wondering, that is just a figure of speech, depending on your definition of party. Neither of us had a drop of anything alcoholic to drink last night! It's just the activity/driving/late hours/etc. (And of course, really, we're up that late most nights anyway. Just something about being "busy" and on the road that long, I guess.) I told dmom what time we got in, and dmom said she would have HAD TO have spent the night. She said she wouldn't have minded the concert being so long, but she would not have wanted to ride home that late. She cannot sleep well in the car. I can sleep like a log in a car, but I didn't do any sleeping last night b/c I was either driving or talking to ds on the phone.

Harmony, sounds like dh is trying to be sensible w/his activity level. I know it has to be driving him nuts, too. Men who are so active just expect to jump right up from the hospital bed and go right back to what they were doing. * sigh *

I don't want to do anything with those computer files and pictures. I know I need to take care of it, but it just frustrates me sometimes. I've had too much sweets and I want a nap.

[Ivy]

Lucylee, I think that if I didn't have a bunny collection nor Easter theme items in the house, I'd probably not be decorating for Easter. But I have so many cute and pretty bunny statues, etc... My one favorite is a Goodwill find, DD got for me. It's a white ceramic tea pot with bunnies, pastel flowers, eggs and chicks all over it. It's so pretty and cute-looking. Also, my DSIS gave me a 12" tall bunny girl and boy, who were very skinny, but when we had the Ash Wednesday earthquake in 2001, here, my boy bunny broke. It was awful. I kept my Madonna on a shelf above the toilet in the bathroom, she fell into the toilet and broke, too. Everything all over the house was askew. It was very scary because we were so close to the epi-center. So now, I have a single skinny tall bunny girl without her mate.

The last of the laundry's put away. I ordered an ankle-length Muumuu today and some underwear. I needed the underwear, but didn't really "need" the Muumuu, but it was a new color, in black and white, looked so rich and I love my brown, khaki, and charcoal grey one so much. It's so nice, if I'm not well, or in the evenings before bed, or mornings, before a shower, to put one on, to lounge in. If my legs get cold, I put on leg warmers, too. Also, sometimes I wear a one-size-fits-all night shirt under the Muumuu for added warmth or add a cardigan. One nice thing, too, is I can wear a turtleneck and long slip under them, for added warmth, and still look nice. Being able to fix my hair, add jewelry to them, to spiff them up, makes them more fashionable, too. I also have lounging pajama sets. I think my favorite is an aqua thick-thick fleece pair of pants with a matching bed jacket. It's so warm and cozy. I can't wear my sweatpants a lot because about 1 p.m., my belly swells and the waistbands feel tighter. But I have some denim leggins, Adidas pants, which fit nicely in the waistband, no matter how much I "expand" during the day. I don't know why it is, but ever since my hysterectomy in 2005, I've had this afternoon-evening waist expansion. DD has it, too, but she's not had that surgery. She's 42. I wonder if all women have this or not.

I enjoy pen palling because I get to learn about the weather in other places. DD says, "Mom, you should've gone to college to major in meteorology and become a meteorologist! You're a frustrated meteorologist!" We pals share what we've been reading, if we walk, lose weight, share about family, pray for each other, unless there is a non-religious pal, which is okay by me, too. We share about our little cities, our hobbies, favorite TV shows & movies, and a whole slew of things. So many become such close friends, over the years, too. It's such a nice hobby to get into. I used to write a letter, than walk it 1/3-mile to the country road and back to equal a 2/3-mile round-trip. I'd come home, putter, do laundry, etc.. write another letter and walk it up. Sometimes I got in a lot of mileage! I hope to take my trekking poles this spring and summer, walk 1 letter at a time up, and build up upper body strength, too. I have a backpack and also a super-duper sports store fanny pack with a water-holder loop on it, zipper compartments, etc... for walking, too. I've got SPF 60, too, so I'm prepared for starting a more serious walking regimen. Pen palling can be such a rewarding pastime, too.

[helia]

Well, I feel virtuous today because I did go for a jog. It was not too cold. I wore a hat and I got pretty sweaty in the end. And lucylee inspired me to listen to Sheryl Crow as I was jogging. Good music for jogging! At home, I also did a little laundry and bedding catch up, put away the bedding and aerobed that GG used for her sleepover guest a couple weeks ago. I did another load of towels. I also threw together a salad, emptied the dw, and then dh and I went to small group for the evening.

I collected miniature bunnies when I was in high school, Ivy. I also collected real life rabbits - aka raising show rabbits.

Ds has emailed that the start up date of 6/2 is full for the company for which he's interning this summer. So, they've put him down for a June 9 start date instead, their latest date. Hmm... I can get him down there June 2 - but no later b/c of dd18's graduation and then grad party. Maybe I could move him down June 2 regardless of his June 9 start date?? I think something will work out. Maybe this will teach ds not to wait 'til the last minute to turn in paperwork. Well, this is not the first time this sort of thing has happened, so he hasn't learned yet. . . .

Speaking of ds, he is turning 20 tomorrow. Am I really old enough to have a 20 year old child?!?? --That was a rhetorical question. No need to answer. . ..

[Ivy]

Helia, That's so cool about your bunnies collection and raising bunnies, too. I had a Mama Rabbit in H. S., she got bred, then had 8 babies. 1 baby died of an obstruction, then my Mama Rabbit got killed. We were at the ocean for the day, she was in her hutch with the babies, and dogs came, knocking over the hutch. Mama Rabbit instinctively went to the door of the hutch, to protect her babies, but the dogs got her. The neighbor's dog did it, they ran quickly over, to rescue the babies for me, and we so very sorry. Dmom and I couldn't find bottles, small enough for nursing the babies, at age 6 weeks. So we got doll bottles, cut the nipples a bit bigger, and fed them once every 2 hours, for 6 - 8 weeks, around the clock. It was so hard. I was in H. S., Mom had a day job, and between the 2 of us, we got them raised to the age of going to new homes. People in the neighborhood, on the next street around our loop, perpendicular to our loop, where we lived, adopted bunnies, so they all got good new homes, because we knew the kids from H. S. After being married for several years, I got into pen palling. When some pal asked me, "What do you collect?" I said, "Nothing, but I'd love to begin collecting bunnies!" That's when my pen pals began mailing me bunnies. I have stuffed ones, statues, and DSIS gave me 3 egg-shaped glass musical box globes with the snow in them, with Easter scenes and bunnies inside them. ♥ I have bunnies, large and small; even 1" tall or a large 2-ft. tall stuffed bunny. What breeds were your show rabbits?

I just printed up 2 how-to pieces off the Internet, how to introduce yourself to new pen pals, what subjects are generally covered and interesting to bring up, to get better acquainted. I thought I'd brush up on my skills because some people just never write back. I know people move on, the price of stamps went up and all, so there can and are legitimate reasons, too. I want to get off on the right foot. Info on-line said to write several letters, so at least a couple will write back and not to give out too personal of info right away or get too "deep" or philosophical right off the bat. Yes, Lucylee, it's a dying art and an art, it is.

[BookSaver]

Hello, villagers ~
3-day sewing camp is over. I have unloaded everything from the car and put away almost everything. I had to take a break for a snack before doing any more work, then I decided that I'm done working.

The event was scheduled to be over at 9PM. My original plan had been to pack up and leave soon after supper. Since I'm not responsible for locking up any more, and I wasn't on the event committee this time, I figured I would be able to take off any time I felt like it.

However, all of the people who were supposedly on the event committee either left soon after lunch, or were not there at all today. New pres & vp did not show up today. That left the event organizer on the hook for doing all of the clean-up herself. There were 16 attendees to the event, so that would have been a lot of work.

My solution to that was to start this morning by putting away empty chairs from people who were there yesterday but not coming back today. I also asked the organizer which tables we would no longer need, and folded them and put them away. As people were coming in and asking what I was doing, I just said that I thought clean-up would go faster if we did it in bits throughout the day instead of waiting until the end to do it all.

Everyone took the hint and started tidying up their own work areas. A few people left after lunch and I helped them put away their folding tables and chairs. After supper, everyone cleaned the kitchen and eating area together, and decided who was taking home which leftover food.

There were 5 of us who stayed until the very end. A couple of the others swept the floor while the organizer and I put away extension cords, irons and ironing boards, and other such equipment that we are allowed to store in a cabinet in the meeting room.

So clean-up was easier with the extra hands ... but I stayed a lot later than I wanted and now I'm exhausted. I'm not planning to do much of anything tomorrow.

Now I'm going to enjoy cuop to see what y'all have been doing the past few days. I'll post my sewing results in AC&N thread.

[Lilac]

lucylee, I am so glad that you were able to see George Strait before he rides off into the sunset. We have been BIG fans of his from the start. In either 1984 or 1985 he came to our fair town for a concert. It was a Sunday night, in August and was held in the high school gym. You just bought tickets ahead of time but for no special seats. We sat higher in the stands to the left of the stage. It was a perfect place to see him. We took the girls with us, they would have been 7 or 8 and 12 or 13. They enjoyed it and were as shocked as we were, when women started going up and throwing panties on the stage. It was so hot in that gym and everyone was miserable, but no one left. He put on a wonderful show. As we were going in that evening, we noticed car tags from Oklahoma and Colorado, plus all the Kansas tags. When they lost their daughter in that car accident in June 1986, we wondered if that would end his career. He kept on going and there will probably never be another country singer who has the longevity that George has had. I too, have never heard a hint of scandal where he is concerned.

It is snowing. We are only suppose to get an inch or so.

When dd2 heard the word snow, they ended up heading to the big city yesterday afternoon. She called a little after 8 tonight to tell me they were home. It started snowing less than 2 hours later. She didn't want to leave today and come back tomorrow, in case they were wrong and we got a lot snow.

Today we went to the local Home Show and then to Menard's to look around.

Guess I better head to bed.

[Harriet]

Disappointed I've hardly been able to get here this weekend so far. Ya'll are one of the more interesting catch-ups I ever do! Hopefully I can CUOPosts and be up to speed. So busy. Dstepson's family came and we had a big day together. Just glancing at a couple posts, so sorry to hear that Kathryn's dsis is going through a tough time. Must learn about the congrats for helia's dd. Elizabeth usually posts, too, so maybe her weekend is odd as well.