We're home again.....

And finally catching up on things.

I meant to keep better stats than this, but I do have some to share:

Days away from home… about 30

Days relaxing on the boat and on the dunes…practically every day in Michigan, and not nearly enough!

When we left Silver Lake, we travelled via ferry across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee.

From there we drove to the Wisconsin Dells, to spend the night at the Great Wolf Lodge (with waterpark!). That was our surprise for the kiddos, and they were very happily surprised!

We then left for a weekend in Hudson with Joe's family, and celebrated his youngest brother's 40th birthday with the whole clan. Lots of fun, cousin time for the kids.

On the way back to Texas we were able to visit with my Aunt and cousin in Kansas City, which is always a treat.


Emails received …1064. Yikes! That took some time.

Books read/reread…. Too numerous to count. Probably around 8. I reread the first 2 of the Blossom Street series by Debbie Macomber, and read the newest, third book. Sweet stories. Got really hooked on Orson Scott Card (he wrote the Ender’s Game series): I’ve read Sarah, and Rachel and Leah, and am about to start Rebekah. His book Enchantment had me up way, way late at night to finish it.

Socks knitted…..4 pair, and one of those had 3 incarnations before I was happy with a pattern!

Yarns frustrated with….pretty much just the Koigu. The hanks are quite short, and I ran short twice, having to rip back into the leg to shorten the socks. On the second of the pair I ran short AGAIN, with about only 1 inch to go!, but there was enough left from sock #1 that I could add the inch I needed. I don’t think I’ll climb aboard the Koigu fan wagon. The Artyarns is one I just love, especially for the stitch definition. But the color changes in this colorway had me stumped for the right pattern. At least I loved the yarn, since I had to work it and rip back 3 times! I still need to take photos of the socks.

Yarn purchased….only 2 hanks! I bought it from Annie Goatly at the annual Pentwater Art Fair. She raises the goats and llamas, spins and dyes her own yarn. I love the pink and brown hanks I bought, and they have a planned future!

Photos nabbed from the inlaws for future albums ….2 full brown grocery sacks' worth. Yippee!

Podcasts listened to….Lime and Violet , Cast On , Pointy Sticks


The saddest part of the whole deal is not that I didn’t take enough photos (but clearly I didn’t. I don’t know why; I just didn’t take many photos this year).

It’s that somehow, in the process of running the photos through my Film Factory software to organize the photos and use the AutoRetouch, I must have used the AutoRetouch more than once. Most of the photos are what I would call ‘overpixelated,’ for lack of the proper term. I am really hoping that Jackie’s photos will suffice for scrapping for me! We plan to trade CDs of photos when they return to town.

Vacations are so wonderful, and we certainly needed this one, but it's great to be home in our own beds. And we really did miss the doggies.

So tell me, how was your July??

Giddy Up, Load 'em Up....

It's packing time! Whee!

We are readying ourselves for our trek to Michigan. The kids and I in one car, Jackie and her kids in the other, caravaning for 3 days...the trip is half the fun! I'll be out of pocket for about a month, so no blogging...so I will leave you with the following entertainment, via YouTube. Enjoy!


Paul Potts, on Britain's Got Talent (yowza!):



A Little Bavaria from Blazing Saddles:


One of the funniest comedy moments on TV...the Mary Tyler Moore Show (episode: Chuckles Bites the Dust):


Something just to make you smile:


and finally, the Time Warp. This is a new stand tune for the high school band this year, so we really should learn the dance:



See you soon, we're off to the dunes! Ahhhhh.....

And now he has permission....

Eric got his driving permit today! Joe took time off work to take him to the local DPS...and they waited 2 1/2 HOURS before being able to take the test. (Those of you in the Austin area know that this is not unusual, even for the Hyemeadow location.) But finally he had his turn, and passed the test!

So now we will be logging driving hours all over town and in Michigan.

Great job, Eric, I'm so proud of you!!

The countdown begins.....

One week from today I will be on the road to Michigan. Jackie and I will again this year caravan our Suburbans with all 6 kids and her dog...three days, two hotels, and countless laughs and good times! The drive is such fun for everyone. So it's time to get some ducks in a row around here regarding the kids and I being gone, then Joe joining us for 10 days, etc. It's time for lists! yeah! I like lists. They are orderly. They help prioritize life and duties and chores. They show what is important, and others can get information without me being right there. I'm already packing the car in my brain, which is typical for me. I'm looking forward to the time to just read, lay around and relax. That's a vacation!

I finished the second pair of Monkey socks, using Artyarns Ultramerino4. Great yarn, fantastic stitch definition. Next up is Koigu, but I'm not sure of the pattern yet. I have 3 I am looking at, all Nancy Bush. Two are from Knitting Vintage Socks, one from Knitting on the Road.

Also I have lost, misplaced, or loaned out 3 books I want back to reread. I replaced 2 at Halfprice Books, thankfully, and will get the other somehow. I have #3 in the Debbie Macomber series about the yarn shop, so I want to reread The Shop on Blossom Street and A Good Yarn. (Still looking for A Good Yarn, will try the Halfprice over on Parmer this week). And I had read Promise, Texas but can't find it, so I was able to get a newer version that contains both Promise and another of Debbie's books. Although it's the Summer of Re-reading (so dubbed by moi), my next books will be by Francine Rivers. Check her out on Amazon by clicking on her name. Historical fiction of Bible characters. Cool.

Off today to spend time with my mom and dad, a day late for Father's Day. Joe's Father's Day was nice...lunch at Chuy's, golf on TV, and time for a nice drive around neighborhoods with just the two of us.

Later, dudes!

There's not nearly enough estrogen here...

Grace has been at Camp Allen this week. Total fun: a week of camp, no parents, friends, bunkbeds, horseback riding....what could be better?

I took along a sock to work on as we waited in line for registration. Here's my dollface holding it:


But the house is so different without her here...I miss my girlie girl! We get to pick her up tomorrow morning, and I just can't wait to see her again. I just hope my little 11 year old hasn't grown up and is still my little girl for just a little while longer.

Ciao!

A week of the night owls....

Joe and Alex are both morning people. They rise in the morning happy, energetic and ready to greet the day! Eric, Grace and I on the other hand, grump and growl like bears in the morning. Till noon really.

So with Joe and Alex off to Houston for a mission trip for the week, the three of us are up very late at night and rise around noonish. More ish than noon, really.

I did finish the granny square afghan, and here is my proof!




Specs: Mostly Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, also used a bamboo for a dark purple replacement when the cashmerino ran out, and the sage is from Sublime. 10 rounds, blocked to 9 inches square. 48 squares total. After taking the photos I added one round of granny pattern in white around the outside edge to pull it together.

I had hoped to completely cover the king sized bed, with a drop as well. That just wasn't feasible. But I do like the dimension, 63 x 72, since it's a nice curl-up size and pretty much covers the duvet top up to the pillows on the bed.

To keep the pattern of colors random, I put the numbers 1 thru 5 in one baggie, and the color names in another and drew randomly for the color to use and how many rounds of it. Then after blocking the squares I laid them out to double check for the overall look.

I love it.

So then I needed something new to work on! I took my sock yarn stash to the LYS and wound it all up (and I took the granny, for show and tell and for the oohs and ahhs!):



With all that yumminess staring at me, what could I do? Of course, I cast on for Monkey, using the Claudia Handpainted in Blue Fields. Here is sock #1 and the start of #2:


That dark spot isn't on the sock. It's in the photo. Weird. Great pattern, and even though it's an 11 row repeat, it really wasn't hard to memorize. I used size 1 needles, with the called for cast on of 64 st. 6 repeats for the leg, 5 for the foot. And the yarn is a dream to work with.

On the medical front: I finally made my appointment with the gastroenterologist. He wanted to see another ultrasound of my liver to see if the 'nodule', which is probably a hematoma, has grown. And I get to have a lovely colonoscopy later this summer. I had the ultrasound today, so hopefully I will know something more by the end of the week. They are pretty quick about this.

I'm off to scrounge for dinner...we are eating at strange times around here, lately! Hope to get to the pool tomorrow. Splash!

The quick tour around the place I work in.....

Not much going on here. I did finish the Granny Square afghan, but haven't decided if I am adding any more rounds to the whole thing or not. I have taken photos, just haven't loaded them up yet.

For now, here's a quick tour around my little happy place:

The Sizzix corner. Under the table is a rolling drawer thing that holds completed pages, waiting to go into albums, sorted by categories............

This is my happy wall...Target cubes on top of the shelving that Dad made for me for Christmas. embellishments are sorted by color. The top shelf of the 5-shelf unit holds sherbet glasses. In each are brads, eyelets, flowers, etc that are also by color. The things on top of everything, the decorations, are collected from various places......

My cardstock and paper are right behind me on the 5-shelf, also sorted by color. I have baskets for scraps I want to keep together (others are by color), for tags and word stickers, and for ink pads/chalk inks.

The window in the room. The 'valance' is 3 clearance dinner napkins from Target. The wooden blinds make a great place to hang ideas!

The desk I work at, from Target.com.

This is Grace's work area. The table is for her, as are the drawers under the TV. She is working on getting her own supplies organized, and loves my P-Touch! Do you like the framed TAB soda packaging on the wall? I love TAB.

Hmmmm.....maybe I need to go in there and spend some more time creating!

Later..........

As sung by Alice Cooper.....

well, with a little help from the Muppets this time around, School's Out for Summer!




I just love the old Muppet Show. Here's the opening number:



And who could forget Pigs In Space, with Captain Link, Dr. Strangepork and Miss Piggy?



Just a little Muppet fun for your Saturday. We are off to a graduation Open House...the first of what will likely be many in the years to come, as our friends' kids (and ours, I guesss!) grow toward high school graduation.

Two more, and go read this.....

More and more bloggers are doing the Seven/Eight Weird/Random Things list. Here are two more Joe and I came up with:

1. I can cross just one eye, leaving the other looking forward. Cool.

2. I can tie a marachino cherry stem into a knot in my mouth. Impressed the guys in college.


And go to Susie Davis' blog here, and read...great message about how very little time we have with our kiddos before they leave the nest!

Tomorrow is the last day of school! We all made it!

Later....

Wiping my eyes....

We just finished watching the past 2 episodes of Heroes. I won't give anything away to those who haven't seen these shows yet, but suffice it to say that I did NOT want to see the sadness for that guy. Sniff. It will be a hard wait until the next season starts up!

School is finally winding down this week, and none too soon for us. Both band concerts were last week, and this week Grace has fifth grade festivities. We all had a hard time getting up this morning, even Alex, our morning boy!

Over at TwistedKnitter , Janet not only participated in a new meme that is going around, but is offering up a prize to those who also participate. Being a sucker for contests, I'm finally going to do a meme! (Remember when I said I would do the 'Six Weird Things About Me'? Yeah. I never did. I know. Maybe I just think that the weird things in me are normal.) This is easy, it's just Seven Random Things About Me. Consider yourself 'tagged' if you'd like!

1. I love to watch Court TV , especially COPS. There is something very satisfying to me in watching the bad guys get caught. That's my type of reality TV. I don't watch their recreation-like shows, like The Investigators, etc. I like the real thing. The other reality TV I like is the coverage of court trials on Court TV, the Animal Cops shows on Animal Planet. I have also been known to look up from my knitting when the Amazing Race is on.

2. I have my favorite movies just as anyone else does, but I think I am the only girl I know that really enjoys mobster movies with the F bomb in them. I don't drop the bomb myself. Well, not anymore! But for some reason there is so much real grit to those movies, and that bomb seems appropriate to the grit level. My short list: Godfather, Godfather Part 2, Casino, as well as Glengarry Glen Ross and The Usual Suspects.

3. Whenever possible, I will swim only in a chlorinated pool, not natural water. There are some creepy crawly things that live in natural bodies of water. There was a time when I loved to swim in the lake, and even opened my eyes underwater there. Now that thought just skeeves me right out. I will walk in the lake in Silver Lake. I will even swim in it if I needed to retrieve something. Given the choice, I am in a pool.

4. I have a thing about feet. I need to have clean feet when I get into bed. I don't mind walking in sand, or dirt. I just have to wash my feet before I get into bed. I gross out completely if someone has long or dirty toenails. There's a basic hygiene thing there for me.

5. My (cute, pink) ipod has more knitting podcasts on it than music. And I listen to the podcasts when I walk on the treadmill.

6. When I am sick I wander the house and whine incessantly. I am a horrible patient. On the very few occasions that I have been really, really sick (like with 104+degree fever and pneumonia) I will simply go lie down and sleep. If you see me do this, I am very, very sick. When the whining stops, call 911.

7. I totally love my signature...I developed it in school when I was bored. I must have been bored a lot, because I also made up a formula for determining the next square number in sequence, learned to write backwards & upside down. (I am left handed, and I think that helped with the backwards writing). I will have to take a photo of my signature and post it for you. You'll think it's cool too.



So what is your list???

Mudder's Day....

Happy belated Mother's Day to the moms out there. it truly is 'the toughest job you'll ever love," isn't it?

My Mudder's Day was nicely quiet. (The thought of waiting for a table in any restaurant on a day like that just gives me the willies.) It was Youth Sunday at church, so the music for service was provided by the youth band, At His Feet, in which Eric plays electric guitar (tall blond, second one standing from the left side). Quite well, I might add! I love to watch them play together. Grace served as a greeter, usher, and on the prayer team. It's awesome to see the kids in service at the church!

{sweet kid story coming...}

To help encourage the kids on the prayer teams some of us went back after communion to ask for prayers. I asked that they pray for me to help me be a better mom to my kids. Grace piped up, "How could you be a better mom?" Yeah. There's a present I'll take every Mudder's Day!

I had a fabulous nap that afternoon (as did a number of us in the house), and Joe grilled delicious chicken for dinner.

Joe had visited his parents the previous week, so he took them some albums I made for them. Yesterday I visited with my mom and dad, and gave her the album I made for her, with photos from years ago to the present, including some from their 25th wedding anniversary party in 1987. It was so fun to put together and revisit those times.

Mom's been doing research on her family, thanks in great part to members of the family saving just about everything from Grandpa's army pay book and discharge notice (I have his old wallet and one he made in camp as a kid, even!) to greeting cards from relatives. The greeting cards provided jumping points for her further research into aunts/uncles, etc. The internet has so very much information, especially considering that there have been so misspellings on names and places.

We now know that my maternal grandmother's family originally came from a town just about 120 miles southwest of Minsk in what is now Belarus. This is so cool! I imagine some wild gypsy blood in me.

She's also researching her dad's side of the family now, and getting some good leads on tracking down information on her paternal grandfather's family.

This is just such a gift to me, my sister, and my own kids for the years to come.

"C" Things That I Love....

Comfy and Cozy. I do love pajamas. If I can be in them by 5 I am thrilled. Old Navy Pajama pants with some kind of Tshirt, and the older the shirt the softer it is. Throw in a nice blanket and I am curled up for the evening!

Cap'n Crunch Cereal....specifically the Peanut Butter flavor. Just can't get enough.

Crossword Puzzles. Especially the Sunday one (Our paper carries the Los Angeles puzzle on Sundays). It's my Sunday afternoon habit. And I prefer using a red pen for some reason.

Crocheting. Before I started knitting a few years ago, I was a crocheter. I've been crocheting for probably 30 years now, primarily making baby blankets for nieces and nephews that were born. I've gone up a level now, and am working on a granny square blanket for myself out of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino....mmmmm. So soft!

Coffee! I didn't used to like it, then I did. Then I tried a Latte and never looked back. Yep, my usual is the Venti Nonfat Latte with Sugarfree French Vanilla. And it's my weekly coffee date with the girls at Starbucks.

Cops and Court TV...Bad Boys, Bad Boys, I do love to watch the bad guys get caught. I'll add in To Catch a Predator in this list, too...it's that NBC show that catches the internet predators. Right now I am watching the Phil Spector trial out in LA on Court TV. And I'll watch reruns of Cops any time I can.

Casino. One of my very favorite movies. Just love Joe Pesci in it - he created such a great character. And Robert DeNiro? Nuff said. A great one. Sharon Stone as well, and even though his part was smaller, James Woods is also memorable. Who'd'a thunk that Don Rickles woulda been so good, too? Yep, a favorite. It goes with me to every weekend retreat.

Cropping. AKA scrapbooking. Creating pages of photos and written memories for my family and those I love. I'm sharing more and more of myself in my pages, and am really enjoying looking back at the photos of the kids when they were little, then writing about the qualities and character traits they possess.

Cookie dough!! Chocolate chip cookie dough, my own recipe. I realize I am tempting the fates, but I've been eating raw cookie dough for probably 35 years. I just love it. I've been known to, on more than a few occasions, to make up a batch of dough and never bake it into cookies. I just leave it in the fridge in a bowl with a spoon in it.

Just a few of the "C" things I love...

Ahhhhh...r...chivers.......

Today was Cropping Day with the girls at Archiver's. so nice to be with friends, sharing, cropping, all the good stuff. It's my new weekly date!

We only have a few weeks of school left here, ending with a half-day on the 25th. I think this is the very first year that all three kids AND I are having Spring Fever about getting out of school. We can't wait! I guess that is a good thing, that it's taken this long to get to the "HOW many days of school are left???" And it just seems to get busier and busier, with concerts, marching band camp, band instrument interviews, finals, projects, field trips, field day, etc. Who am I kidding....there is no not-busy time of the year. It just changes during the year. Still.....when does summer start???

So as summer approaches, even with with a Mission trip for Joe and Alex, and camp for Grace (this means mega pool time for Eric and I!), I look forward to this:

The dunes of Silver Lake.

Sunset over Lake Michigan, in Pentwater.

I've been unfaithful to my LSS....

(Local Scrapbook Store), and I'm not even trying to hide it.

As I posted previously, Archiver's opened here in Cedar Park. Just a few miles from my home. From my home! (hear that spoken a la Al Pacino in Godfather Part 2:

Michael Corleone: [Discussing the incident regarding the two unknown gunmen who fired through Michael's bedroom window earlier] In my home.

Frank Pentangeli: Michael, when I heard I almost died...

Michael Corleone: [Yells] IN MY HOME! IN MY BEDROOM! Where my wife sleeps... and my children play with their toys.

I ended up going back on Friday, and again on Saturday. Ya. Wow.

Saturday was really a 'field trip' from our all-day crop event celebrating National Scrapbook Day. Michelle and her mom of Scrapbook Escapes hosted it again, and it was really fun. Good food, good friends. Just what we girls want! I did get some pages, done, but not nearly what I wanted to. We did agree, though, that a bunch of us are going to meet at Archiver's on Thursdays to work on our stuff.

Grace had her interview with the band directors from the middle school last week. She really wanted to play the saxophone (she likes the reeds, so no triple threat of T-bones here), but she couldn't get enough air to get sound from it, so she'll be playing the clarinet. We are excited for her to start in band...it's been such a great thing for both of the boys.

With Joe travelling this week (various sites in North Dakota and Minnesota...allowing for a nice weekend visit with his parents), it's time to single parent here. That means interesting dinners and an earlier bedtime! (I'm no morning person, so I need the extra time to wake up and be civil, as well as cover the rides to the 3 schools by myself.)

So I will continue the stalking of Archiver's for now. It keeps me off the streets.

Home from stalking....

Yippee, our Archiver's opened!! I've been driving by the storefront for a while now, slowing down as I pass to get a good look through the windows. I know I am not the only SUV that has been circling in that parking lot. Their Grand Opening is tomorrow, but I have a friend who has a friend who is working there, so we found out about the "super double secret" (no, not really) 'soft' opening today. They have so much there! And so many things the other stores have been out of for a long time. Oh, and the clearance! 25-75% off stuff already! I was there at 9, 30 minutes early, the first one. (One lady said she was there earlier, but must have left for coffee and come back so we won't count her. meh.) I was comfortable in my camping chair drinking a latte, enjoying the morning. Wish I'd had a photo of us all as we gathered at the door watching 9:30 draw near. Kim, Jackie and Terri were there with me, of course!

So many random thoughts running in my head, but I really need to take care of a few things before I blog again. I'll try to bring some cohesion to the randomness and return.

Until then....scrap on!

Happy Birthday, Zander Go!....

Alex turns 13 today. Wow. he's so old all of a sudden! Here he is at a recent band concert. He's passed me in height, and is closing in on Eric. He's probably 5'10" now.
His annual ARD (meeting for Special Needs/Ed kids) went very, very well. He is right on course with his goals from this year, and we set goals for next year. I am excited for his 8th grade year next year!

Isn't he handsome? (sorry the photo isn't a closeup like I intended...Blogger hates me today.) And such a funny, funny guy! He comes up with something witty every day. This morning his remark was "let's grab a hold of reality and take it for a spin." Such a sense of humor!

Alex, Zander, Zander-Go-Berts, Boo, Bones....all nicknames I have for him. Poor guy answers to darn near everything...He has more nicknames than anyone I know! He's taught me more about joy, living life in the moment, how important hugs are, and unconditional love than I ever could have learned without him. He is truly a gift from God.

I love you Bones, and I am so proud of you!

Happy Anniversary, Baby....

got you on my mind.....

Yeppers, today is the big TWO-OH for us. Married for TWENTY years. It sounds so long to the kids!

Truly, I can't believe how blessed I have been to have Joe not only in my life, but to be married to such a man! I love that we are growing closer every year, and that we have the same values and goals. Pretty incredible when you look at society as a whole.

We complete each others' sentences, can exchange a joke or remark in just a look, and have all of the same stories and inside jokes. I love the comfort we have.

Twenty years. Feels like forever. In a good way, right, honey??

wise words....

This was just emailed to me from a friend...thanks, Jackie.

Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columnist and Author:

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow but in disbelief. I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like. Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves. Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past.

Everything in all the books I once poured over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach., T. Berry Brazelton., Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education, have all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories. What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations --what they taught me, was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.

Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay. No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2.

When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing. Eventually you must learn to trust yourself. Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China . Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling, too. Believe me, mistakes were made. T hey have all been enshrined in the, "Remember-When- Mom-Did Hall of Fame." The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language, mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, "What did you get wrong?". (She insisted I include that.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over the top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts. It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were.

Lists, lists, lists....

I'm back from New Braufels! What a great retreat it was; we had so much fun! Lots of laughing, scrapping, eating, HobbyLobbying, chocolate-eating, jammie-wearing....all the good stuff. I got a TON of pages done, and feel quite accomplished. And I got to see some wonderfully creative women's work, and was very inspired.

But now it's time to sit down and make the To Do, To Call, To Remember and all the other lists I need for the week.

Back into the real world again tomorrow...yikes! Landry and ironing await! (Golden Joe did the boys' laundry for me before I got home today...what a great guy! Stacy, you can stalk him, but he comes home to me! lol!)

Have to remember to add "knit" to the To Do list.....yeah, that's the ticket...

Micromanager? Me? Maybe.....

Tammy nailed it last night at our Bible study, during prayer requests. I was asking for prayers for this weekend, since I will be away (yes, again), and Joe will have a lot to schedule through without me. I realized it is a trust issue. It's not that I don't trust him...I just like to be here to help when there's all this going on around us. Thankfully, Mom and Dad are keeping Grace for the weekend, and they will all have a grand time together. So Tammy aptly prayed that I have peace in my heart so that I enjoy the weekend and not worry about trying to 'micromanage' my family! Thanks, Tam.

So Jackie and I are off to a scrapbook weekend, leaving in the morning. I have NO clue what I am going to work on, so it's all going with me. I will have to wander around and get inspired this time. At our Louisiana retreat I already knew that I was going to make mini albums for Alex and Grace (Eric already had one started), so I easily got those done plus some other 12x12 layouts. This time it's open season on the photos!

Now I am off to pack it all up, get my (overly comfy) clothes packed, get Alex's band concert clothing ready, make a list for Joe (because I just can't release all the control, dang it!), and all that.

Have a great weekend, everyone!