letter from sam, trip to the library, and a new purse....

Yesterday was just fantastic. Kathryn and I got an early start to the library, where I paid a large fine, thank you girls for all those books you had stacked next to your beds and forgot to give me when I went out and about. I was ready to pay for one mystery book which no one got out, no one read and no one knew where it was. Then the other night, the princesses were playing school, and out of their drawer full of paper and notebooks, voila! The missing library book!

We got out the movie, "Pollyanna", for the girls, Paul is reading them the book right now. The movie is pretty cool, but it needs a re-do, to be more like the book. I love the Glad Game, by the way.

Anyway, we then went to one of our favorite places, the thrift store. I like to shop until I find Something Really Great. And I found it! A new purse, a Relic brand from Kohl's, for $5.99. It was brand spankin' new, not a crumb in it. Just what I wanted for summer. I also got two new shirts, a Corelle bowl and two mugs, a glass pitcher, and a shiny red tea kettle for a friend who is getting his first apartment. Kathryn got a few pairs of jeans to cut off into shorts, and a couple of cool t-shirts.

Then, the dollar store, where I stocked up on chocolate and sunglasses. They sell Target sunglasses for a buck. I don't much care what they look like, as long as they work. I can't see paying big money for them they way they disappear and get broken. I also got a really old-lady-ish sun hat, and some granola bars.

Grocery store for grapes and watermelon and yogurt and eggs and chicken, then home...

The kids had to go to activity club, ect, and Paul had church work to do, so I went to visit his mom, who is back from Florida for the summer. Evelyn went with me, and we had a very nice time. She gave me a lovely necklace, which I am very excited about. I will wear it to Sam's graduation:) She seems to be doing well, but is still getting her strength back from a strenuous trip last month to the Kentucky Derby. She's 84 but has more energy than I do.

Tomorrow is Grandparent's Day at school. Mirielle and I went last year for the little girls, and it wasn't all that great. Lots of people crowded into the rooms, the kids are all cute and happy and proud of their grandpas and grandmas, but....my parents have passed away, and I didn't want to ask Paul's mom to go, it's just hot and too much walking....and and and...so, Camille has an appointment for her arm which she broke a few months ago...we are making a day of it. Charlotte will come with us, and Jon too, and we will get some lunch and take it to the park by the lake, along with scooters and bikes, and have a nice day in the sunshine.

I have been thinking alot lately about being thankful. It's easy when the sun is out, and I am out in it:), but when there are dishes and there is drama (I DO have eleven daughters!), when I feel slighted or like no one loves me, then it is a different story. Then, I have to decide, really, what direction I am going to let my thoughts go in. Poor me? Seriously? NO sir. Those thoughts can shrivel up and die, because I am not going to water them. Life is too short. God has given me too much.

I am thankful for this wonderful spring time after that long cold winter. Being out on the deck with the tree branches swaying in the breeze, the birds singing, the brilliant blue of the sky, not having to bundle up....ooh, I love bare feet. I am thankful for our two big huge labs, who muck through the creek and have to be toweled off. They are always happy to see me, always no matter what. They hold no grudges, and have no complaints. They simply wag and and are overjoyed when they get a treat or a pat on the head. It's funny, Duke never asks to go out, Suri does. She comes to me and sits there looking at me, tells me with her eyes. Sometimes Mirielle says, "Use your words!", and it's funny. We ask if they want to go out, and they jump up and run to the door. They know if you spell o-u-t, too. Even the word, "go", means to run to the door. Anyway. They are precious.

I am thankful for all these kids too. It takes up ever inch of space in my brain to keep track of who is doing what and what each one of them is going through, and sometimes I will think of one of them and sort of panic, because I almost forgot that something or other was going on with them.

I have four nurses now. Four. I take partial credit, as I did go through Nursing School with each one of them, praying for them and waiting with anticipation for test scores.

Half of them are out of high school, only 8 more to go.

Oh, and one thing I am really super thankful for is that I have been given the gift of the appreciation of Stopping To Smell The Roses. When Char and Cam and I hatched the plan for tomorrow in lieu of Grandparent's Day, we all got really excited, and Camille said,"I love having things to look forward to!." I do, too. Okay, I have things to do around the house, things perhaps that should be done instead of walked away from, but guess what? I don't care. My kids won't have memories of living in a spotless house with all their stuff organized and arranged just so, but hopefully they'll remember the countless adventures, the time spent outside,or of their dollhouse stuff spread from one end of the living room to the other, or setting up blanket forts or playing store with all the canned food, promising me they will clean it up when they were done, with me always realizing they will never really be done. Because that was always the answer, "Mom, we aren't DONE playing with it yet." Even if they had moved on to playing school in a different room.

Anyway. The kids are growing up and the house still isn't spotless, but I did clean off the stovetop and shine up all the cupboards and appliances yesterday, and wash out the inside of the microwave. I did a few loads of laundry, and swept the floors a few times. I bleached out the kitchen sink, it is white, and we have an abundance of iron in our water....but, I still am not an organizer. It took me years to decide on one particular cupboard to keep the peanut butter, for example. I don't like crumbs or sticky or dirty, or clutter, but I can't organize to save my life. I try. As Aaron says, on my tombstone they'll have written, "She Tried."

Enough rambling for this fine morning. :)