Hi... and stuff

So... where was I ?

My father in law is still in the hospital. He will hopefully be coming home soon. In the meantime one of the women who help me care for my mother in law, M., is keeping plenty of baked goods supplied to my home. Chocolate chip bread. Banana bread. Blueberry. Cakes... and on and on it goes. We are all expanding. The goal was to put weight on MY MOTHER IN LAW. Not all of us. M calls to tell us she has a few breads for us, and we all sigh quietly.

This is my busy week at church; singing almost every day. Last night the priest was intoning several VERY long prayers in a row and I just. Got. So. Sleepy.  Suddenly I realized that not only was I RIGHT on the edge of falling asleep, Stanley was looking right AT ME. And he was saying "You're not falling ASLEEP are you?"  (Stanley talks to us all the time during mass, because we are upstairs behind the congregation, and they usually don't hear his Irish whisper as he reminds us how to sing a particular part of whatever we're doing next.)  So I turned bright red, and bit my lip and shook my head. No. Nope. Not falling asleep.  He laughed at me.  See if I bring him any candy. Or cookies. Or home made fudge.  (This year he asked me for maple. Early taste tests of the spoon indicate success...)

Hmmm... what else can I share with you? (I have a few loyal readers I see, I get a handful of visits every day even though I don't post as often since Harry fell. Are you reading my tweets over at the right? Do you like the photos I post? Feel free to look me up on Instagram as Carlyq80. )

We are very busy preparing for a trip to see my sister, who is having ANOTHER adorable baby for me to gush over. If the stars manage to align, she will cooperate and go into labor so that I can be with her while the baby is born (there is maybe a 5% chance of that). But it would be really awesome since she was with me when my son was born so many years ago.

I will have to be very careful if I am in the delivery room, since I am just as graceful as ever....

The other day I noticed that one of my neighbor's kids somehow lost track of a green ball that the wind had blown into the bushes in the very back of my yard. I walked back to go get it, forgetting that I was wearing shoes with a bit higher heel, which helpfully sunk into the wet grass every few seconds, since it had rained earlier.  I got to the ball, retrieved it, and was sinkwalking toward their yard when I remembered their big annoying german shepherd who chases people.  We don't get on well with those neighbors so I decided to just stop and kick the ball in the general direction of the other crap sitting around their backyard.  Unfortunately my shoes are slip ons, in addition to having heels, so OF COURSE ONE SHOE WENT FLYING. Of course. I had to walk across the wet grass a few feet to fetch it. My only consolation was that due to the angle of her house I know she wasn't watching me from her kitchen laughing.

Ah, don't you wish you could be as cool as me?   - one more story, then I have to go.

My daughter is also preparing for her prom, and discussing colleges. We need to start visits this summer. They will all be local, given the havoc that unemployment and cancer wreaked on my finances. Luckily we have some great options near us.  She told me in the car the other day that she was considering joining the Navy. I laughed for about a mile since this is a girl who takes no less than 30 minutes in the bathroom then still has to dry her hair and do her makeup just so, in her own room. I said, you are ABSOLUTELY not suited to the demanding life of a solder or a sailor.  She joked with me... "You'll see. I will do it just to prove you wrong."  I said nothing for a few moments.  Then I turned to her and shouted as loud as I possibly could, 'DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY' and was rewarded with a scream and flailing of arms.

I rest my case.