Posts Tagged Family Life

Just wanted to wish everyone a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving! There is so much horror in our world, I am grateful to have at least one day out of the year to just focus on blessings. I am grateful, most of all, for my Husband, my Children, and my Mother. Running a very close 2nd are all of my wonderful and amazing friends who have supported, comforted, and lifted me up in prayer over this past year. I would surely be in a padded cell by now, if it weren’t for them!

We are headed out in a couple of hours to our friend, Tiffany Galozzi’s home, where we are going to enjoy her wonderful cooking and hospitality. Woo Hoo! Then, tomorrow, we start decorating the house for Christmas, and finish the day up at the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert down in Greenville.

So, today I am going to start baking homemade rolls for Thanksgiving.  We are going to be at a friend’s home this year (Thanks, Tiffany!) so I don’t have to actually prepare the entire meal, which is so nice!  And, there will be about twelve people, so that will be really nice, too.  I really prefer Thanksgiving when there are a lot of folks to enjoy it with.

We are also going to be cleaning house today and tomorrow, because this weekend, we will be putting up all of our Christmas decorations!  So, I am thinking about the Holidays, and how fast they seem to be racing toward us.  It will all be here (and then gone!) before I know it.

Faith’s friend, Anamarie, said something the other day that really made me think. I have not looked forward to celebrating Christmas for a very long time, because it seems like we are always so short on money when it rolls around, no matter how much I’ve saved for it during the year.  (This year, for example, I have had to dump almost $1000 into my car in the past WEEK!  That was Christmas money.  Now, it’s just a painful memory. )

But, back to Anamarie.  I was driving the girls somewhere, and she pipes up in her adorable little twelve-year-old voice and says “I can’t wait for Christmas!”  And I said “Really?  Why?  What is it that you enjoy most about Christmas?”  I wasn’t being sarcastic in any way.  I really wanted to know.  Sometimes it is just so nice to get a glimpse of the world through the eyes of a child.  It’s almost always a nicer place than I tend to think it is. Well, she explained that she loves putting up the tree, and opening presents, and getting to go to both of her grandmother’s homes for more presents and for yummy food.  Hmm.  I remember feeling excited about those things.  It was a long, long time ago.  Somehow that excitement has gotten away from me over the years.

Okay, I don’t mean to be on a total downer here.  I am merely taking an honest assessment.  And, yes, I am very well aware of the fact that Christmas is not supposed to be about all that stuff, but that all of that stuff is supposed to be about Christmas.  The birth of the Savior of the world, the Christ Child.  And we do things every year to remind ourselves of that fact, to celebrate and focus on that meaning.  We light the Advent Candles every evening, and pray together as a family.  We go to Daily Mass more often, and we attend special church services.  We celebrate Wigilia, and go to Midnight Mass.  And don’t get me wrong:  I *LOVE* those things!  But I still find it very difficult to get in the mood when the time comes.

But this year, I am really going to try, really hard, to focus on the *spirit* of the season, and not worry about all the rest of it.  Yes, I would really love a big family Thanksgiving or Christmas, where all my family joined us and we had this wonderful time together, then all went to church together.  I would love to feel a sense of hopefulness about the future of our country.  I would love to think that our house is about to sell!   But none of those things are real.  What is real, though, is God, and the blessings that He has given us.  So, I am focusing on the blessings, and on being Thankful for them, as we Head for the Holidays.

I have been so busy lately, that I haven’t even had time to check my email, much less blog.  Faith and I have been trying to figure out why we are so much busier this school year than we have been in the past, and we really aren’t sure.  Maybe it’s the quilting, or the violin.  Who knows?  At any rate, we have been moving at the supersonic speed of life, and I am taking a few moments (that I really shouldn’t spare!) to do a little ‘catch-up’ on here!

Faith entered three items in the Western North Carolina State Fair this year: a appliqued denim jumper, a crib quilt, and a crocheted scarf.  She got 2nd Place Ribbons for the jumper and the scarf, and third place for the quilt!  I am so proud of her.  When I was her age, I didn’t know anybody who could sew or crochet or quilt who was under the age of, say, 110!  And I certainly didn’t have any friends who entered crafts in the County Fair!

We have also started “Quilting 102″, and it already seems like it is going to be a lot of fun.  In the midst of all the sewing and quilting, we picked up a bushel of apples, and have put up a run of apple butter, applesauce and pie apples.  Mom has baked and frozen several apple pies, and we have been enjoying fresh baked apple crisps, pies, and cakes almost every night.  (Yeah, I really need to get back on that treadmill!)

L-R: Kendall, Lishi, Faith, Alex, Valarie & April

Alex started classes at Blue Ridge, and that is keeping him really busy.  He is also still taking French from a private tutor, and that  seems to be going really well.  She assures me he’s doing great, anyway!  I have always thought French sounded like someone trying to speak with a mouthful of oatmeal, but that is, indeed, what Alex sounds like, so I’m guessing that’s a good thing?   In his spare time, he is working at the Outback and has just joined “Company” at the Flat Rock Playhouse. We had a really cool birthday party for him this year, too.  He decided he wanted a “Victorian Era Theme Party”, so we all dressed up like we were from that time, and had a blast!  We got a couple of cool family pictures, while we were at it. (I just wish Gaylon had been here.)

Kendall has been staying busy with his Journalism studies, and finally got interested in doing something with the blog he set up almost a year ago.  He hasn’t done a LOT with it yet, but it’s coming.  He is finally talking about it, and making plans, which is a huge step!  Check him out and leave some encouragement: Kendall Brooks, Unedited.

I am trying to find time to work on a genealogy website that I have been playing with for about a year, myself.  Hopefully, I will get some time this year.  I really have some great ideas, just no time to implement them.  But, hopefully I’ll get it up and running soon!

Anyway, that’s the update.  I have to get moving now, because Faith and I are headed to Mary Jo’s Fabric Store in Gastonia today, on our way to pick Gaylon up at the aiport!  Yay!

Bandit and Mustard

It has now been officially ten days since we last saw Colonel Mustard or Bandit. Faith is giving it until the end of this month until she gives up. I am, for the most part, trying not to think too much about them. We have never had such bad luck with cats before.

Mustard was the King of Cats. You could hear him purr from across the room, and he was poetry in motion to watch. He probably weighed in at close to twenty pounds, and was absolutely graceful. We have had him (and his brother, Piewacket) for ten years. Our home will never be quite the same without him. Neither will Kendall, for he belonged to Mustard.

Sharing the Couch

Bandit was the amazing foldable kitty. You could just scoop him up in your arms and he would conform to whatever shape you were carrying him in. And he would go anywhere you took him, happily. He was delightful to watch, as he chased butterflies in our grass, or stalked bumblebees in our woods. He loved to play, because he was, after all, still just a kitten, at eighteen months old. I have known and loved many cats. He was by far the ‘coolest’ cat we’ve ever had. Faith will never want another cat.

My dearest hope as a mother has always been that my children will be close to one another. That they will care about each other and that their relationships will grow closer and deeper each year for the rest of their lives, because I’ve never had close relationships with my brother or sister. In fact, for most of my life, I’ve had very little contact from either of them, and it has been one of the great sadnesses of my life.

So tonight, for me, was wonderful! Kendall and I decided to watch “Harper’s Island” on the internet, and I remembered that Alex had hooked one of his friends’ computers up to our big screen tv to play video games. So, I asked him if he could hook Kendall’s computer up for us. He disappeared for a few moments, then came back with a cord, crawled up behind the tv, and hooked it up. Then Kendall asked him if we could have the speakers from his computer, and he happily went and got those for us!

The two brothers spent several minutes hooking things up and making it all work, while I sat on the couch watching them, with my heart absolutely full! Wow. I am blessed, indeed!

Yes, in more ways than one, I am still here!  I still have a blog, even though I’ve not updated it in a couple of weeks.  Things have been really busy since we got back from Texas.  Alex started right back in with rehearsals for the play he is now performing in at the Flat Rock Playhouse, “Princess Reform School”.  He does a great job, even though he is only in one scene.  As the name implies, the play is mostly about princesses in need of reform, so there are only 4 males in the entire play.  They are sparse, indeed!  It is a cute play, though, with some very funny parts.  I will, however, be very grateful when it’s over next Sunday.  We can rest a bit then.

And, obviously, I am still here in North Carolina.  Our home still hasn’t sold, but that’s not a huge shock, considering most real estate is frozen here.  We have decided to drop our price, but I want to speak with our realtor first and determine if she is going to actually do some agressive marketing, or just update her website.  I would really, really, really love to be in Texas before school starts in the Fall.  It won’t affect Faith, because we will just continue homeschooling.  However, Alex wants to attend his senior year of high school at a public school, and it would be so much nicer if we were already there.  I’ve heard horror stories about putting homeschooled kids in high school.  I’ve heard that the school will require them to start at 9th grade, no matter what their level of education is, or how old they are.  If we run into something ridiculous like that, we will simply continue homeschooling.  End of story.

Gaylon is coming in for Easter, and will be here in time for all of the Holy Week Masses and services.  He will be here for four days, then back to Texas. *sigh*  I wish he could stay longer.  We knew this was going to be difficult, but knowing something and experiencing it are always very different.

Also, I am still here, even though I have seen the ark float by a few times in search of Mt. Ararat!  It has been grey and dreary and rainy for 4 days straight.  Yes, we need the rain.  Yes, it makes everything pretty and green.  And it grows the flowers.  I don’t know about the grass and flowers and trees, but personally, I am in desperate need of some sunlight!  So, I am looking forward to sunnier days, soon!

My only political thoughts at the moment are that I cannot believe that Fr. Jenkins up at Notre Dame is having Obama speak at their commencement exercises this year, and giving him an honorary law degree.  How can he justify honoring the most aggressive abortion rights activist ever at a CATHOLIC university???  At least his bishop is refusing to attend the ceremony.  Now if only everyone else would boycott, as well.

Things have changed so much since Gaylon and I first looked for a home. Back in the old days, you had to pour over the classifieds in the local newspaper to find a place to live. Not today! Yesterday, Gaylon and I spent two hours on the phone while I looked up houses for sale on Realtor.com, and gave him the directions to get to each one. Then, he would drive by and tell me what he saw, while I looked at the “Birds Eye” view of where he was on Google Maps! (Yeah, you think the government can’t watch your every move. . .)

We found several that were pretty cool. When I go out next month, I will look at them with him, in a more traditional way, LOL!

And just a little sidenote: we noticed that the more expensive neighborhoods had very few trampolines, but the less expensive neighborhoods had them in seemingly every-other-yard. Swimming pools seemed to be about the same in both. What’s up with that???

Ready for the Father/Daughter Dance

Today has been a really wonderful, busy, day. This afternoon, we attended the Annual Homeschool Valentine’s Skating Party.  It is always a lot of fun, and the kids love it.  Alex gets to flirt with all the pretty girls, (and for some reason, they flirt back) and Faith gets to hang out with her friends.  I get to visit with all of my friends and try to not eat all of the amazing goodies that everyone always brings.  It is hard to believe that this is our 14th such party.  The skating rink has undergone a massive makeover during that time, and many of the faces have changed over the years.  I remember Kendall learning how to skate there, and today he couldn’t join us because he was in class. . . at college!!!  Wow. . . I can’t believe how old I’m getting!!!

Tonight, Gaylon took Faith to the Father/Daughter Dance at our Church.  Faith has been so excited for weeks now, looking forward to her special night with her Daddy.   She got all dressed up, and I even let her wear a tiny bit of makeup for the big event.  Gaylon made sure that he flew in from Texas this weekend, just so he could be here to take her to this dance.  They are so crazy about each other, and I think it’s wonderful.  I never had that sort of relationship with my own father, and am so grateful that God has blessed me with a husband who is crazy about our children.  It’s awesome!

Tomorrow morning, I will make my traditional Valentine’s Day breakfast of heart-shaped pancakes, and we will all stuff ourselves.  Food = Love, right?   Then, tomorrow night, it will be my turn to celebrate Valentine’s Day with Gaylon!  All of the kids are spending the night with friends, and Mom is even going down to a “Pajama Party” with some of her friends down in South Carolina.  So, Gaylon and I will have the house to ourselves for the entire night. . . I can’t remember the last time that happened!!!  Now our biggest decision is whether we want to have cornish hens or grilled steaks.  Ummmm . . .

Perhaps everyone’s households are as bizarre as ours, and they just don’t talk about it. If that’s true, I’d love to hear from others about the weird things they experience in any given day. Our household is never dull! For example, we have six cats. That in itself keeps things exciting. But two of them only sleep on their backs, which is a very strange sight.  Cats also make navigating the stairs a bit tricky, since they love to lay across the steps, and we’ve had as many as 4 cats lounging on the stairs at one time.

Then there’s Faith’s cat, Bandit. Bandit has more personality than any cat I’ve ever known, and more than most people, for that matter. He is forever getting into trouble! And he does strange things, like lay his head on the side of his water dish, and just sort of roll his head to the side when he wants a drink. However, the other day I found him laid out in the most ridiculous position on our couch, and I had to take a picture.

Jabba the Cat

But the weirdness in our home is not restricted to our cat population.  My children are very strange, too!  I mentioned in my last post that Faith had been playing with an 8″ model of a human skeleton.  Faith is my ‘normal’ child.  For example, when she bought fish for her new aquarium yesterday, she couldn’t wait for Kendall to come home so she could show him.  His comment, upon seeing her carefully prepared aquarium housing two new Guppies and one tiny red snail was, “Mmmm, tasty!”  Faith’s response?  “No, they’re not big enough to eat!  But even if they were, I wouldn’t let you.”  Um, okay.  And, while they may not be big enough to eat, there will be enough of them for a meal very soon.  One of them, I’m told, is pregnant.  Oh, great!

And, last, but certainly not least, there’s Alex.  He would be terribly hurt if I didn’t explain that he is my ‘weird’ child.  No worries, he certainly qualifies!!  He is always creating new songs on his guitar, and most of them are beautiful.  Some however, well, sound like a train wreck!  But, I’m thinking he may be working on some sort of new look, based on the big hair of 1980’s Hair Metal.  This is what he showed up with last night:

Sir Alex of the Freaky Hair

He was really proud of his new ‘look’.  In fact, he got up this morning and did it again, then topped it off with some sort of plaid hat that might remind you of an old Bogart detective movie.  Kendall couldn’t really say anything.  After all, his hair used to be Neon Blue.

I don’t  have anything in particular to say, really, just a lot of random thoughts I would like to share.  Starting with clothing.  Mom and I went Christmas shopping yesterday at the mall down in Greenville.  Our annual tradition is to find a really beautiful dress for Faith to wear for Christmas.  So, the hunt was on.  And on.  And on.  I am not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, and am very laid back about weird fashions, in general.  But I have reached the end of my tolerance on this.  “Skanky” is NOT a fashion.  It’s tacky, sleazy and I will not pay for it.  More importantly, my daughter doesn’t want to wear that sort of clothing, and even if she did, it ain’t happening!  Have you SEEN what they are selling to 11 year old girls????  Who decided that young girls were supposed to look like, ah, how shall I say this delicately. . . prostitutes???

We checked all the usual suspects: Dillards, Belk, etc.  We skipped Macy’s because they officially told their employees they were not allowed to wish anyone a Merry Christmas.  No more of my money for them.  I was getting really, really discouraged, when we finally ran across a store that still sells elegant, tasteful clothing.  Expensive, but worth it.  Thank God for Coldwater Creek!  We found some really lovely things there, and Faith is going to be so thrilled.  But not nearly as thrilled as Mom and I were to find decent clothing.

We found slinky shirts and scanty lingerie being passed off as formal gowns.  We found lots of clothing for the gang banger in your life.  We found some obscenely expensive t-shirts and ratty jeans.  I have to wonder what our world would be like if clothing companies, department stores, designers, etc. decided that they weren’t going to sell that sort of garbage anymore.  What if they decided to sell flattering, tasteful, simple clothing that made everyone look NICE?  Oops. . .sorry, I’ve slipped into my little fantasy again.  The same fantasy in which everyone spends an entire week saying only kind things to everyone they meet and the media only reports good, happy news.  Imagine with me what that would be like!!  Wow. . .

Okay, back on planet earth, I have some happy thoughts, too.  We helped out with a local organization’s Christmas gift distribution today.  The Storehouse here does an amazing job of taking care of folks in our community who are in need of food, clothing, whatever.  Lynn, the self-described “demented elf” is the lady who runs it, and she is nothing short of amazing.  Our 4-H club volunteered to help, along with lots of other homeschoolers and various others in our community.  There were literally thousands of gifts there!  It was heartwarming to me to see all the warmth and love there.  The kids were blown away by how many families were there because they couldn’t afford to buy presents for their children.  A real eye-opener, to be sure.

An added bonus was getting to see our old pastor and catch up with him for a bit.  He is a wonderful man, with a heart of gold and a warm loving spirit.  I got to see lots of other folks that I hadn’t seen in quite a while, and that was really nice.  With our upcoming move looming large, it’s a sweet blessing for me to get to visit with old friends before we leave.

And, no, we don’t know when we are planning to move.  Our house must sell first.  However, we have found a realtor that we really like: Janis Moore with Keller Williams.  She is sending a professional photographer to come take pictures of our home next week!  I am very hopeful.  Even in this economy, God can sell our house!

Tomorrow will find us back down in Greenville to do Christmas with my lifelong friend, Emily, and her family.  We pick a day every year to get together and exchange gifts and of course, eat!  We are all looking forward to that.  Then, on Sunday after Mass, our 4-H Club is going caroling.  Afterward, they are all coming over here for hot cocoa.

I have had a warm fuzzy feeling all day, and it was topped off tonight in the coolest way.  Faith and Alex each have a friend spending the night, and we hadn’t seen or heard any of them for quite a while.  I went up to check, assuming that the boys were probably playing video games, and that the girls were probably watching Christmas movies.  Nope.  All of them were playing a board game together, having a wonderful time!  And people ask me why we homeschool. . .

So, that’s it for my randomness tonight.  Now that my Adobe InDesign class is over I will have a bit more time for this blog.  I love it, but it has been really busy lately.  Peace, out.

This has been one of the longest weeks I can ever remember.  Starting out any week with mourning is always tough.  But, to add to the mix, on Monday night, Alex wrecked his new car.  He is okay, but his car is not. He is not sure what happened, but thankfully nobody else was involved.  He lost control of his car just past the Green River Bridge on 176.  He said he wasn’t speeding, and I believe him.  That is a really winding road, and it was a really dark night.  Interestingly, just a few days later, a friend of his lost control of her vehicle in almost the same spot.  Only she was luckier than Alex, and didn’t hit anything.  He hit an embankment.  Thanks be to God, because he could have ended up going over the edge of the road into a ravine.  So, anyway, once he’s done with Orphan Train, he is planning on going back to work to pay for damages to his little car.

Tuesday found me doing laundry and a bit of cleaning for Bonnie’s family.  Mom went to help, and that was really nice.  We came home to find Faith with a 102.8 degree fever, and her upper lip really swollen.  Note to anyone who might need this info:  Alleve can cause swelling and hives.  So, no more Alleve for Faith!  Benadryl seemed to fix the swelling, but she ran fever for another day, and started finally feeling better by Thursday.

Thursday afternoon we attended Bonnie’s funeral.  She was buried in an absolutely beautiful location, high up, overlooking the mountains.  It was a glorious autumn day, and I am sure I felt her smiling at all of us.  Her service was short and very sweet. Her pastor talked about how Bonnie had kept a journal, and in part of it she had made a list of the things she wanted to do before she died.  One of those things was hiking up to the top of a mountain with her family and singing “How Great Thou Art”.  Although her children didn’t get to go along,  she and her husband did do just that.  And I thought about how all the things I seem to want to do cost a lot of money and involve so much time.  Like travelling to Greece or Europe.  I think I am going to make a conscious effort to want the things that God gives to us for free.  I think there’s some sort of great wisdom buried in that simplicity.  It seems even in death, Bonnie is still teaching me!

Last night we had our Halloween Party, and it was nice.  Almost all of Kendall’s friends were unable to come because of a football game at Appalachian State, so it seemed much quieter than last year!  However, we enjoyed the friends that did come, and the food and games.

Today, as you may have noticed, has been spent updating my blog again.  I never did really get used to the ‘theme’ I was using.  Even though it was very customizable, it just wasn’t ‘me’.  I found one I really liked a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t had time until today to play with it and make it work.  I am very happy that I’ve been able to tweak the code to make everything that I was having trouble with work for me.  Let me know if you find anything strange that I need to fix, such as broken links or missing images, or places where images just don’t seem to fit right.

So, that concludes our long week.  Next week, with the election, may feel even longer.  God Bless America.

Alex got his provisional driver’s license yesterday.  He has since driven himself all over the place, and we are confident that he will soon master that gear shift, resulting in much smoother take-offs and no more stalling out at stoplights!  He says it feels like he suddenly sprouted wings.  Yeah. . . I remember that feeling.  There is nothing in the life of a teenager quite as liberating as having a car and beginning to feel some sense of freedom. He still can’t drive after 9:00 pm, which I think is an odd choice of curfew, since any movie one might want to go see would most likely end at or after that time, but it only lasts for six months, providing he doesn’t have any violations during that time.  The curfew also prevents him from driving himself to most of his play rehearsals, since they typically end at 9:00 pm.

In other news, Gaylon and I got a really nice treat when we went out to eat at Carrabba’s tonight.  It took them 55 minutes to get our order to us, and so, when they did finally bring it, they informed us it was “on the house”!  All we had to do was tip our waiter!  So for the price of what it would have cost us to eat at McDonald’s, we both got our meals, tiramisu (ummmm. . . .) Gaylon got coffee and I had two glasses of wine!  That is hard to beat!

There seems to be plenty of gasoline, now, which is also really nice.  After that last big hurricane that hit Galveston, we had a major gasoline shortage here in the Southeast.  Asheville even shut down the schools and city offices for a couple of days, because people simply couldn’t get to work.  But, things seem to be okay now.  I think there needs to be some sort of contingency plan, because I seriously doubt that that will be the last hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast states.

I continue to be amazed by the politics in our country.  I heard an ad for Obama on the radio yesterday, telling me that McCain plans to tax health insurance benefits, and that he even states such on his website.  The ad was clear, concise, and very convincing.  Even though I know that Obama is not who he pretends to be, it was almost tempting to believe him.  But, being the research freak that I am, I looked up McCain’s website, just to see if it was true.  It is not.  In fact, they have devoted an entire page on his site refuting the lies in Obama’s ads.  I get so sick of this garbage!  But then, I guess if I had the voting record and the funding sources and supporters that Obama has, I wouldn’t want to talk about myself either, lest someone actually listen and realize the truth.  Much safer to attack the other guy.  Of course, McCain isn’t doing much better.  I am so discouraged by this campaign.  I have already begun to pray that God will send us a wonderful candidate in four years, because there certainly isn’t one this go-round.

And last but not least, if you haven’t checked out all the videos on YouTube and all the other video posting sites with Tina Fey (of Saturday Night Live fame) impersonating Sarah Palin, you’re really missing out on some great humor!  Tina Fey does such an amazing job, it’s sometimes easy to forget that she’s just a comdienne, and not Sarah Palin herself!  Back in 1980, I had the privelege of attending Ronald Reagan’s inaugural gala in Washington.  The best part was the celebrities!  I got to see Frank Sinatra sing New York, New York, and got to watch the inimitable Rich Little.  Bob Hope was there, too.  No, they don’t make ‘em like they used to, but Tina Fey really does do a great job that I think would even impress Rich Little.

Okay, so I have been bragging on my little girl a lot lately, so please indulge me while I brag, yet again, on her domestic skills!  My cousin, Branden, and his wife, Laura, just had a beautiful baby girl. (Otherwise known as “Princess Lily”!)  When Laura found out that Faith could crochet, she put in an order for a crochet cap for the baby.  Lily’s colors are chocolate and pink, so the hat, of course, had to match.  Faith did it all by herself, with absolutely no help from me.  She followed a pattern for the hat, but designed the flower herself.  Below is a picture (used with permission from Princess Lily’s Mom) of that precious baby wearing the hat that my precious baby made!

Lily wearing the Cap Faith made for her

It feels like I hit the ground running on Monday morning, and things have yet to slow down!  On Monday, Faith and I loaded Pippin up and took him to the vet to be neutered.   When we picked him up at 4:30 that afternoon, the poor little guy was absolutely stoned!  At one point, when he was trying to walk, he just fell over!!  However, he made a quick recovery and is doing great now.

Faith and also started working on her new denim jumper.  She has been after me to teach her how to sew, and this is what she wanted to start with.

On Tuesday, Faith and I went into town to pick up some extra fabric we needed for her jumper, and for a quilt she is planning to make.  Then we had lunch.  That evening, Alex and I had dinner with some friends, then all of us headed over to the Flat Rock Playhouse for a Spotlighter’s meeting, then got to go to the Dress Rehearsal of “Tuesdays With Morrie”.  It was a really poignant play, and gave us both a lot to think about.

Wednesday was spent with more sewing, and of course, schoolwork. I spent some time working on the website I am tring to get up and running for my genealogy research, too. It’s coming right along, but still nowhere near ready!

Thursday was spent doing more sewing, and hanging out with my friend, Lisa, in the afternoon.  That’s always a nice break!

Today has been spent finishing up the jumper, 90% of which Faith sewed by herself!  It is beautiful, and it looks so sweet on her.  Now we just finishing up packing so we can head over to the Eucharistic Congress.

My daughter is amazing! She is only 11 years old, but she can already sew, cook, crochet, and knit. And now, she can quilt, too! She recently decided that she wanted to make a quilt. So, she came to me and asked me if I had any fabric she could have to cut up. Well, I had plenty, left over from unrealized sewing projects over many years, and was glad that somebody wanted to do something with it. The next thing I knew, she had commandeered my sewing machine, and was stitching 6-inch squares of fabric together. She then climbed up to a forgotten corner of my closet where she had spied some batting, got it down and cut it to fit the pieces she had sewn together. Next thing I knew, she had produced a beautiful, bright quilt! Here are some pictures of her work.