my favorite kind of day....

Warm and overcast, breezy with those distant storms threatening, the leaves rustling, the curtains flapping in the wind. Just having leaves on the trees finally, yay!

Oh thrift store shopping! I refrained from snapping a picture of Evelyn, Suzanne, Sonja, Char, and Camille. They HATE when I do things like that. But it was quite funny, us with our overflowing cart full of good finds, plus the two swivel office chairs Cam and Char talked me into buying for them for $5.99 each. They LOVE playing office, and school, and promised me they would love these chairs forever and clean their room so they can fit in there. I don't believe them, but I bought them anyway. We also bought a whole stack of Little House Books, "The Poisonwood Bible", and "The Help", which are good to read again, along with a few other books that look good for summer reading. I found two nice blue Corelle mugs, and a baby doll with it's clothes still on. The girls found shorts and jeans and button down shirts and shoes.

Our hands were dusty, but we enjoyed our little scavenger hunt. We then met Mirielle at Kohl's, because she had a 30% off coupon. Sometimes the clearance stuff there is really reasonable, especially with a little extra discount. I love dressing the two little girls in cute clothes...............

A quick trip into Aldi for some produce and half and half and a little bit of chocolate for when we really need it. Yes, NEED. When you have a houseful of girls, sometimes you really need chocolate.

We had chicken wraps for dinner, with lots of good veggies, and strawberries for dessert. The kids rushed off to activity club, I cleaned up, then went for a nice long walk, then left for a grill meeting at church. (Paul started rototilling the garden, I saw him for like two minutes last night.)

And today...stretched before me like a blank slate. I have lots to do, but what will I really do? I would like to crack into that new stack of books we brought home yesterday, but I won't. Not yet.

So, my dear son Samuel James is graduating from Infantry Basic Training on June 13. At least I HOPE he makes it through. My heart would absolutely break for him if he didn't, but I won't think about that. Anyway, Paul and I are travelling to Georgia again. We will bring Sam back with us, he will have leave for 10 days, then head to his base in Virginia, where he will be in the Old Guard. BTW, I am very proud of him to have been chosen for that. He said they picked out a group of around 40 guys from the whole platoon, then sat them down and started asking questions and eliminating them based on their answers. Sam never smoked, never got arrested, ect. So he was one of seven guys who were selected. Anyway, he will be coming home. All sorts of busyness will be going on while he is home, but we chose one day for our family to be together, and you know how hard that is to co-ordinate, with three nurses in the family with different schedules. A few have to ask for that day off, but hey, it will be worth it. I am just sad that Benjamin can't be home too, but flying from Washington state for a weekend is not feasible. We will have to call him or skype him that day. I miss him muchly. And I know that isn't a real word, although I don't see why we aren't allowed to just add "ly" or "er" to anything we want. Funner and stupider should be words. Anyway.

I am working hard on getting back into better shape. A new beginning, again. I don't care how many times I have to re-start, I am not giving up. I gained like five pounds on that Georgia trip, partly eating those dark chocolate covered pomegranate things while driving, just to keep awake. Partly because we sat around for three full days and I ate chocolate. And some of the Easter candy I brought for Sam. No donuts, but I realize I can't tick off all the things I didn't eat, but be honest and acknowledge the things I DID eat. I can be so puzzled sometimes why I am at a standstill, I mean, I didn't eat any cookies! But I DID eat like seven squares of dark chocolate and too many nuts, or too much popcorn, or whatever. I have to be awake, and eat lots of stuff that's good for me so I am not feeling deprived and so snacky all the time. "Snacky" should also be a word.

So Mali Rose, my dear little Mali, made it through nursing school. Now, she is my fourth nurse (Emily, Mirielle, Aaron)...but somehow I am jumping up and down like ten times more for her. They all worked hard, but Mali...she really worked hard. She had times where she was sure she wasn't going to get through it, and I would tell her it ain't over 'til it's over, don't give up, you can do this, take one day at a time, just focus, you can do it....I rejoiced when she passed her tests, I cried with her when she failed them. I worried when she had evaluations...I basically went through nursing school with her. She is in the final stretch, her classes are all finished except for one clinical she is working on, which she is pretty certain to pass. I'm not quite opening the champagne yet, but soon, yes very soon....

And, off I go to do all the stuff I have to do around here....