Exciting times

Back in the day (mid August, that is) LargeBoy had a little incident involving gravity and a skateboard, which resulted in a very sore hand. Turns out, on examination by a specialist, it is not actually just badly bruised, but actually has a weird broken bone. So he now has his arm in a cast for the fourth time. He did switch arms, though!

SUPER CUTE MOMENT:
After SmallDaughter finished up her Horse Riding Therapy (the high point of her week), she asked if we could go see the "ducks"--she clearly remembers going to Kingwood Center (which we drive right past), and I decided to stop and let her. Our parking space was close to the entrance, and she headed off to the duck pond by herself, which was fine, since I could see her, and there weren't any other people around. I rummaged around in my purse to find a quarter to buy corn for the ducks (she loves the little "bubble gum" vending machines that dispense bird food!). Just as I was walking over, she came RUNNING back towards me (which is very out of character), signing "scary, scary". Turns out, the peacock was right by the vending machine, but the tall grass had hidden him until she came around the corner! And since he is as tall as she is--freaky! He and the peahen kept trying to get all the food she wanted to throw to the ducks--it was pretty funny! She kept telling him "shoo"--but he was persistent!

I am trying to get ready to go to PA for a family reunion, and then have a bunch of awesome people here and a party for General Conference. And I am sewing a bunch of change aprons for the Boy Scouts for selling popcorn. Well-six, anyway. And (much cooler) I took 3 stuffed animals apart (a racoon, a hideous rat in a dress, and a much loved, worn out old bear*) and turned them into an Akela headdress for the Cub Scouts. I am about half done, and it seems to be coming together.

And, today I got a call for a temp job with the Board of Elections--starting tomorrow. This week should be really exciting! I am off to bed--it is way past the seminary teacher's bedtime!

* I realized as I took the bear apart that it was stuffed with shredded paper, (which explained why all the stuffing ended up in the limbs, with very little in the torso). In possibly the most surreal moment of my week, upon closer examination, it wasn't paper, but but a clever recycling of the shredded up byproducts left over when they manufacture sanitary pads--the cotton fluff and the very distinctive "always" plastic overlay. Weird, but rather clever (I guess!).

Winter Wonders

It appears to be snowing again. That in itself is not surprising--we are supposed to have a pretty major winter storm (although we only got about 4" last night, which is not even close to the horrors they were predicting--of course!) The surprising part is the direction the flakes are coming from, and the noise they are making as they hit the house. Hmmm.

Inside the cozy house, we are enjoying our quiet snow day. BigGirl has been inspired. Over the weekend we had some of our favorite people stay over, and Miss V and I went through our fabric stashes and combined our fabric to make tops for Humanitarian Quilts. BigGirl helped me cut pieces on Saturday night, and on Sunday, she asked if she could work on a quilt by herself. In keeping with my "what the heck, why not tell your children "YES" and see what they can do" parenting, I gave permission--and by Sunday evening she had ironed, cut and layed out all the pieces for a twin size quilt! On Monday, she got it sewed into strips. I will post pix when she gets it done--it is very cute, and I am very impressed with her (I am still working on the quilt I started when I was expecting LargeBoy--so like, 13 years ago!).

SmallDaughter got to put on her snowsuit and boots and go out walking around and kicking snow for about 40 minutes. I had to force her to come back inside. She does not care how horrible the weather is, she just wants to be out in it.

LargeBoy has completed 2 Merit Badges. He was the awesomely cool big cousin/entertainment unit over the weekend. He is researching lots of exciting things that interest him.

I spent several hours on the phone, and paid the bills in bed--I find bill paying is a whole lot less stressful when I am in the softness of my cozy bed with the wonderful electric mattress pad on high!

I also read a really excellent book last week--"Coop" by Michael Perry. I just love the way he writes (I also loved "Truck--A Love Story"). I have a lot in common with him, but his humor--it just sneaks up on me, and I find myself suddenly laughing till I fall off my chair (the part about his dad joining the choir--priceless!)

I am whiling away the winter evenings by designing my dream retirement home. Not what people would expect, I'm telling you. More on that later.

An ounce of morning is worth a pound of afternoon.

The chicks are fine, thanks for asking. I am trying to round up a camera to document their cuteness (QUICK--while it lasts--I know what is coming!)

Today, I nobly resisted the urge to crawl back into my fabulous, warm bed (after fixing MFG's lunch for work, a little before 5 am). I am sewing on a massive project--a first communion dress for a friend's daughter. I am actually using a pattern--which is good, since this dress is much more complicated and intricate than either of the wedding gowns I have sewn! She will look like an angel, though!

It is spring break, so we have fun company for the week in the form of our spiffy cousin, ExtraLargeGirl (same age as LargeBoy, but a couple of inches taller than BigGirl) and SmallDaughter doesn't have school, which really makes working on projects difficult. And, since I am up to my earlobes in projects...early morning is my only hope. And, since they were all up SO late last night---I should have quite a bit of quiet morning.

In SUPER FUN NEWS: In the mail yesterday, I got 2--count them, two!--pieces of real mail! One was a wedding invitation (for a neat wedding I am decorating in June, congrats to S&G!), and the other was a letter from the Spinners and Weavers guild--I won a scholarship to take a felting class! I am so excited!!! The class is in October--and the only caveat is that I have to teach the guild members about what I learned (whee--I love teaching! At least I love teaching fun stuff...to grownups!)

Also...still snowy. However, since we live in an interesting little weather spot, we noticed yesterday that while we had a nice sugary dusting of snow on our grass, at the hatchery (17 miles away) they had actual drifts.

I hope the weather forcast for a dramatic warmup is right--we are having an easter egg hunt/barbeque potluck on Saturday! (I like the idea of the easter bunny coming on Friday night, so that the sugar high is on Saturday, and Sunday we can focus on the actual meaning of Easter!) Some years I am even on the ball enough to have that happen!